Purpose

To notify agencies of the procedures for processing Productivity Gain Payments.

Affected Employees

Employees in the Security Services Unit (BU 01), Council 82 Agency Law Enforcement Services (BU31) and Security Supervisors Unit (BU 61).

Payment Dates

The payment will be processed in a separate check in payroll period 6 Lag, checks dated 07/10/03 (Institution) and 7 Lag, checks dated 07/16/03 (Administration).

Background

In accordance with the 1999-2003 Agreements between NYSCOPBA, Council 82 and the State of New York, a pilot Productivity Gain Program has been established to encourage, promote and improve morale, attendance and productivity.

Eligibility Criteria/Payment Information

Employees who meet all of the following criteria are eligible for a Productivity Gain payment as described below:

• Be full time, annual salaried employees in Bargaining Unit 01, 31, or 61 at least four months (cumulative, 4/1/02 through 3/31/03).
• Have one or more years of full time continuous service on the annual commencement date of the program (4/1/02), regardless of bargaining unit.
• Have 80 or more hours of accumulated sick leave credits on the annual commencement date of the program, 4/1/02.
• Use 6 or fewer days of sick leave during the fiscal year 4/1/02 through 3/31/03, exclusive of sick leave days utilized and charged for documented instances of bereavement, in accordance with Article 14.3.

Employees who meet the eligibility criteria stated above, who have, since 4/1/03, been placed on leave, become inactive, or changed bargaining units, remain eligible for the payment.

Employees who were on a leave without pay during the program year (4/1/02-3/31/03) may be eligible for the Productivity Gain Program under the following conditions.

• Employees in the following Military Leave Status categories during the program year will be considered in full pay status for the purpose of the Productivity Gain Program:
  • Military leave pursuant to Section 242 of the New York State Military Law
  • Supplemental Military Leave Pursuant to MOU with NYSCOPBA and Council 82
  • Time charged to leave credits while on approved absences for Military duty.

They must satisfy all the other conditions of the program.

The Productivity Gain Payment is not pensionable, but is used in the calculation of overtime and pre-shift briefing pay beginning 6/12/03 (Institution) and 6/19/03 (Administration).

For additional information regarding eligibility criteria, refer to the Governor's Office of Employee Relations memorandum from Seren A. Hrachian, dated August 14, 2001, Pilot Productivity Gain Program.

For all qualified employees, payment will be as follows:

The amount of the Productivity Gain Payment (PGP) for an employee is decreased proportionately relative to the time spent on leave without pay, so that the employee receives a pro-rated amount.

Productivity Gain Exchange Options

An eligible employee may opt to apply a portion of the Productivity Gain payment to reduce the employee-share premium of NYSHIP health insurance coverage or apply a portion of the payment to the NYS Health Care Spending Account for qualified, un- reimbursed medical expenses.

For additional information regarding these options, refer to the Governor's Office of Employee Relations memorandum from Seren A. Hrachian, dated May 6, 2003, Health Insurance/Health Care Spending Account Productivity Gain Exchange Program: Sick Leave Use FY 2002-03.

Agency Actions

The agency must enter all payments. Use PGP (Productivity Gain Payment) to report the total amount of the Productivity Gain Payment. Use APG (Adjust PGP Health Insurance Credit) to report the amount to be deducted to be used towards the health insurance credit.

Use the dates stated above for both active and inactive employees. However, if the employee is not in bargaining unit 01, 31, or 61 on the effective date stated above, enter the last date (after 3/31/03) in which the employee was in an eligible bargaining unit. Use this date as the Effective Date, OT Eff Date, and Earn End Date.

OSC Automatic Recalculation of Preshift Briefing

After all Job Requests, Additional Pay and Job Data transactions have been processed for Period 6 Lag (Institution) and 7 Lag (Administration), OSC will automatically recalculate pre-shift briefing earnings (PS1).

A new PS1 row will be inserted into the Additional Pay panel with the effective date of 6/12/03 for Institution or 6/19/03 for Administration for employee's receiving PGP. A new PS1 row will also be inserted into the Additional Pay panel with the effective date of 06/12/03 (Institution) or 06/19/03 (Administration) for employees whose PGP ended 06/11/03 (Institution) or 06/18/03 (Administration) and do not have a new PGP row entered.

OSC will use the total amount of the PGP in the calculation.

OSC will also update all PS1 rows on the Additional Pay panel that have an effective date that is equal to, or greater than, 6/12/03 for Institution or 6/19/03 for Administration.

PS1 earnings will not be recalculated for employees who are active or on a paid leave of absence and the amount of PS1 is $24.00 or $48.00.

PS1 will not be recalculated if the employee is receiving the payment, but is inactive on 6/12/03 (Institution) or 6/19/03 (Administration).

Agency Action After Initial Payment

Payments not paid in the Initial Payment

The agency must enter any transactions not submitted in the initial payment using the instructions above. They will not be able to click OK to Pay.

Preshift entered for PGP payments entered after Initial Payment

OSC will not automatically recalculate PS1 earnings entered beyond payroll period 6 Lag (Institution) or 7 Lag (Administration). The agency will be responsible for reporting the new PS1 earnings when the Productivity Gain Payment is reported after the initial pay period.

Changing Bargaining Units

If an employee who received the PGP is subsequently transferred into a position with a different bargaining unit, the employee is no longer eligible to have the PGP included in the overtime calculation. To end the PGP earnings, the agency must use the following procedures:

• Insert a row for the earn code PGP; effective the last day the employee was in the eligible bargaining unit.
• Change the OT Eff Date to the original OT Eff Date.
• The Annual Addl Earnings amount from the previous row will default and must remain the same.
• Change the Earn End Date to the last date the employee was in an eligible bargaining unit.
• Enter the amount of the original Goal Balance in the Goal Balance field.
• The agency will not be able to Click OK to Pay.

Adjusting a Previously Paid PGP

If the original payment is under paid, the agency must:

• For the earn code PGP, insert a new effective dated row on the Additional Pay panel, effective the first day of the current pay period.
• Enter the original overtime effective date in the OT Eff Date field.
• Enter the new total amount of PGP (total amount = original PGP plus the additional PGP amount) in the Annual Addl Earnings field.
• The Earn End Date will default from the previous row and should remain the same.
• Enter the amount of the original Goal Balance in the Goal Balance field.
• The agency will not be able to Click OK to Pay.
• Enter the reason the employee is eligible for an additional payment in the General Comments panel.

Submit a Data Chg/Cor Hist on the Job Action Request panel, effective the date of the original PGP earnings, and notify OSC in the Status Reason block of the corrected pre-shift briefing earnings amount.

The difference between the original and the new amount will be paid in a separate check.

The PGP Payment was Overpaid

Use the earn code, PGA (Productivity Gain Adjustment) in Time Entry to recover payments overpaid to an employee for any of the following reasons:

• The original amount of the PGP earnings was in excess of the amount the employee was eligible to receive.
• The agency failed to report the earn code APG (Adjust PGP Health Insurance Credit) when the PGP earnings was originally reported.
• The original amount of APG was under reported.

Report the earn code PGA in the Time Entry Panel

If the agency is reporting a PGA to recover an overpayment of PGP, the agency must also:

• Request a Data Change/Cor Hist and report the corrected pre-shift briefing amount in Status Reason block.
• Report Additional Retirement Salary Credit to ERS. Since the total amount of the PGP is non-pensionable, the agency is responsible for completing forms RS-2050 and RS-2050A for all employees whose regular check was reduced by the amount of the PGP overpayment. The agency must report the additional retirement salary credit. The amount of the credit is equal to the amount of the PGA.

The APG is Over Reported

If the agency previously over reported the payment for the earn code APG, the agency must:

• Insert a row on the Additional Pay panel, effective the first day of the current pay period for the earn code APG.
• Enter the total amount owed to the employee in the Earnings and the Goal Amount fields.
• The Goal Balance field should remain blank.
• Enter the reason for the adjusted amount of APG in the General Comments panel.

OSC Action After Initial Payment

When the earn code PGA is submitted in the Time Entry panel, OSC will make the following changes, where necessary, on the Additional Pay panel:

• Adjust the PGP amount on the Additional Pay panel, effective the date of the original payment.
• Insert a row to report the APG amount for employees who do not have an existing APG row.
• Correct the previously reported APG amount.
• Change the OT End Date for employees no longer eligible for a PGP.
• Correct the amount of Pre-Shift Briefing pay as requested by the agency on the Job Action Request panel.
• A description of the completed changes will be reported in the General Comments panel.

Note: Overtime earnings will be adjusted automatically based on the changes made to the employee's record.

Additional Payment Information

When both PGP and APG earn codes are reported, the employee's gross check will be automatically calculated as follows:

Total PGP Earnings Amount - Total APG Amount = Gross Amount of Separate Check.

The PGP will be paid in a separate check.

There will be no direct deposit for this payment.

The earnings code(s) PGP, APG, PGA will appear on the payroll register. The earnings description, Productivity Gain Payment, Adjust PGP Health Ins. Credit, Productivity Gain Adjustment will appear on the employee's check stub.

Reveal Reports

Mass Additional Pay Report (NHRP703)

This report will identify all employees receiving an automatic increase for earn code PS1 (Pre-shift briefing).

Questions

Questions regarding the Health Insurance options identified in this bulletin should be directed to your Health Benefits Administrator.

Questions regarding submission of this payment may be to your directed to your payroll auditor.