Purpose

To provide agencies with information and procedures regarding the calculation of affected employees’ salaries and the processing of necessary salary corrections.

Affected Employees

Non-Statutory employees deemed Management/Confidential who moved to graded positions since April 1, 2003 or who move to graded positions in the future.

Note: Employees represented by CSEA will be addressed separately in a later bulletin after clarification and direction from the Governor’s Office of Employee Relations regarding eligibility and method of salary calculation.

Background

Pursuant to Chapter 103 of the Laws of 2005 which amends Civil Service Law Section 131.5 and clarifies the computation of salaries for certain employees who move from unallocated or Non-Statutory (N/S) positions to statutorily graded positions. The legislation calls for a new option for calculating salaries for affected employees in addition to the methods of determining salaries that already exist.

Effective Date(s)

The new method of calculating salaries for affected Management Confidential employees is effective April 1, 2003.

Agencies may begin submitting transactions for eligible employees beginning in Pay Period 18L (Institution), paychecks dated 12/21/06 and Pay Period 19L (Administration), paychecks dated 1/10/07.

Eligibility

To be eligible for the new method of calculation, employees must be in an M/C non-statutory Annual or Hourly position immediately prior to moving to a graded position.  Employees must continuously occupy the same unallocated (N/S) position:

• in the same title;
• within the same agency/appointing authority;
• within the same negotiation unit;
• at the same salary or equated salary grade level (excluding normal performance advances and general salary increases);
• in continuously Active paid status (Active, paid Sick Leave, Workers’ Comp Leave, Military or Military Stipend Leave);
• for a minimum of one (1) calendar year (excluding seasonal employees - see information regarding Long Term Seasonal Employees below);
• on a full-time basis, and
• with no reduction/change in the percentage of time worked during the above-mentioned calendar year.

Employees on an approved Voluntary Reduction in Work Schedule are considered to be qualified as continuously occupying a position.

Termination or resignation from an unallocated Non-Statutory position with a subsequent reappointment to the same position on a later date constitutes a break in continuous pay status and the employee would not qualify for the new salary calculation method.

Discretionary salary adjustments approved by the Division of Budget (BDA adjustments) must not have been implemented within one (1) calendar year immediately prior to movement from an N/S to a graded position and disqualify an employee for consideration of the new salary calculation method.   Such discretionary salary adjustments constitute a new salary and the one (1) year continuous salary requirement would not be met. Civil Service Law Section 131.5 b addresses Management/Confidential employees who are Long Term Seasonal employees (defined as having served at least 1,500 hours in pay status during each of the previous two years).  The calculation method described below should be applied when determining the salary for these employees when the employee moves to a graded position.

Method of Calculation under CS Law Section 131.5

The following procedures should be used as an option when calculating the salary of employees moving from an unallocated N/S position to a graded position that meets all of the above eligibility criteria and where the hiring rate of the graded position that the employee is moving to is greater than the employee’s current unallocated N/S salary.

Promotions from “Equated to Grade” Positions

• If the unallocated N/S position that the incumbent is moving from has been equated to a grade by the Division of Budget, then the grade equation shall be used as the starting grade of the promotion calculation. For example, an employee who is equated to a grade 15 and moves to a grade 18 position would be eligible to receive a 6.0% promotion percentage on their unallocated N/S equated to grade salary. If an employee is in a position that is equated to a grade but the unallocated N/S salary is outside the range of the equated grade’s Hiring Rate or Job Rate, this method must not be used to calculate the employee’s new salary.  Instead, the “Movement from Not to Exceed Positions” method described below must be used.

Lateral Movement from “Equated Grade” Positions

• If the incumbent is moving from an N/S position with an equated grade to a graded position with the same grade, the N/S salary can be retained upon movement to the grade.

Demotions from “Equated Grade” Positions

• If the incumbent is moving from an N/S position with an equated grade to a lower graded position, the salary should be calculated using the higher grade service to build the salary in the lower grade or the incumbent’s current N/S salary not to exceed the Job Rate of the lower grade.

Movement from “Not To Exceed” Positions

• If the unallocated N/S position that an employee is moving from is outside the range of the equated grade or has not been equated to a grade by the Division of the Budget,  and the employee has been paid with a "not to exceed" authorization level, the starting grade level for the promotion calculation is determined by assigning the unallocated N/S salary to the highest grade level where the salary reaches Hiring Rate on the salary schedule of the bargaining unit from which the incumbent is moving. The promotion percentage between this starting grade level and the grade level to which the employee is moving must be determined and then the appropriate promotion percentage must be applied to the unallocated N/S salary.

Movement from an Hourly Position

• When an employee moves from an Hourly N/S position to a graded position, the hourly rate must be converted to an annual rate by multiplying the hourly rate by 2088. The annual rate can then be used to calculate the employee’s new salary using the appropriate scenario above.

Note: Employees who are moving from bargaining units other than M/C are not eligible for this new method of calculation and must be calculated using the existing methods as stated in Part 1 of the OSC Salary Manual. Employees who are moving from CSEA will be addressed in a future bulletin upon clarification and direction from GOER regarding eligibility and salary calculation methods.

OSC Actions

Following the release of this Bulletin, OSC will provide agencies with a listing of employees who meet the above eligibility criteria for agency review. Employees who appear on the listing have met the initial eligibility but need to be reviewed to determine whether the new calculation option is higher than the calculation previously paid.

Agency Actions

Beginning in Pay Periods 18L (Institution) and 19L (Administration), agencies may begin submitting salary corrections effective 4/1/03 or later for employees identified by OSC as meeting the required eligibility and whose salary calculation under the new option is higher than the calculation previously paid. 

If agencies identify employees who may meet the requirements but do not appear on the list from OSC, the agency should send an email to [email protected] prior to submitting the salary correction to ensure that the employee is eligible. Agencies must submit Pay Change Requests using the Action/Reason codes PAY/CSL (Pay Rate Change/Correct Salary) for all affected rows on the employee’s Job Data history.

Agencies must include a summary of how the requested salary calculation was reached in the Remarks section of the Pay Change Request.

Beginning in Pay Periods 18L (Institution) and 19L (Administration), agencies may begin using the new method of calculation, if appropriate, for current and future position changes that meet the above eligibility criteria.

Questions

Questions regarding this bulletin may be directed to the Payroll Audit mailbox.