State Agencies Bulletin No. 825

Subject

April 1, 2007 and April 1, 2008 Salary and Other Increases for Employees Represented by the Public Employees Federation (PEF)

Date Issued

June 19, 2008

Purpose

To inform agencies of OSC’s automatic processing and to provide instructions for processing adjustments and changes.

Affected Employees

Eligible employees in Bargaining Unit 05

Effective Date

Paychecks dated 7/3/08 (Institution) and 7/9/08 (Administration)

Background

Pursuant to Chapter 114 of the Laws of 2008 which implements the new 2007-2011 Agreement between the State of New York and the Public Employees Federation (PEF). The agreement provides for a retroactive 3% General Salary Increase and an increase to other payments effective April 1, 2007 and April 1, 2008.

This bulletin covers the payments of the April 1, 2007 Salary and Inconvenience Pay increases and the April 1, 2008 Salary and Location Pay increases. Time Entry increases will be covered in a separate payroll bulletin and paid in the pay period following payment of the Salary, Inconvenience Pay and Location Pay increases and the Longevity Lump Sum (LLS) payment.

Contract Provisions and Eligibility Criteria

Retroactive General Salary Increase

April 1, 2007

The legislation provides for a retroactive 3% Salary Increase for employees in graded and NS (SG 600) positions, trainees (SG 800) and hourly employees.

Payable 3/29/07 (Institution) and 4/5/07 (Administration)
April 1, 2007 Salary Schedule
Annual employees receive a 3% increase rounded to the nearest dollar.
Hourly employees receive a 3% increase rounded to the nearest cent.

April 1, 2008

The legislation provides for a retroactive 3% Salary Increase for employees in graded and NS (SG 600) positions, trainees (SG 800) and hourly employees.

Payable 3/27/08 (Institution) and 4/3/08 (Administration)
April 1, 2008 Salary Schedule
Annual employees receive a 3% increase rounded to the nearest dollar.
Hourly employees receive a 3% increase rounded to the nearest cent.

Exceptions:

No Increase for FEE basis employees, except for employees budgeted as per diem with a Pay Basis Code of FEE.
No Increase for employees who were on a Leave of Absence for a Reason unrelated to Workers’ Compensation on the effective date of the Increase until the employee returns from leave.

Inconvenience Pay Increase

The legislation provides for a retroactive increase in Inconvenience Pay to $575 effective 3/29/07 (Institution) or 4/5/07 (Administration).

Location Pay

Downstate Location Pay Increase

The legislation provides a retroactive increase to $1,850 for employees in NYC, Nassau, Rockland, Suffolk and Westchester counties, effective 3/27/08 (Institution) and 4/3/08 (Administration).

Mid-Hudson Location Pay Increase

The legislation provides a retroactive increase to $1,000 for employees in Orange, Dutchess, and Putnam counties, effective 3/27/08 (Institution) and 4/3/08 (Administration).

Note: The Location Pay for employees in Monroe County remains at $200 annually for eligible employees.

OSC Actions: Automatic Processing of Increases and Additional Pays

Salary Increases

After payroll processing for Pay Period 6 (Institution and Administration) is completed, OSC will automatically update Job Data records to reflect the April 2007 and April 2008 Salary Increases for employees whose Pay Basis Code is ANN, 21P, CAL or HRY. The records will be updated as follows:

For employees who have a status of Active, Paid Leave of Absence (except Military Stipend), or Leave of Absence with a Reason Code of WDL, WSP, WCL or WPS on the effective date of the Increase, OSC will insert a row in the employee’s Job Data record using the Action/Reason code of PAY/SAC (Pay Rate Change/Mass Salary Increase) with an effective date of 3/29/07 (Institution) or 4/5/07 (Administration) for the April 2007 Increase and 3/27/08 (Institution) or 4/3/08 (Administration) for the April 2008 Increase.
OSC will insert rows effective 4/5/07 and 4/3/08 for Institution Extra Lag agencies and 3/29/07 and 3/27/08 for Administration Extra Lag agencies using the Action/Reason code of PAY/SAC (Pay Rate Change/Mass Salary Increase).
For employees who were Inactive or on a Leave of Absence without Pay (excluding WDL, WSP, WCL or WPS), the Salary Increase will be applied to the employee’s Job Data record only if the employee was subsequently returned to the payroll in Bargaining Unit 05. Rows will be inserted as of the effective date of the Rehire or the Return from Leave action using the Action/Reason codes of PAY/CSL (Pay Rate Change/Correct Salary) for annual employees and PAY/CRT (Pay Rate Change/Change Rate) for hourly employees.
For employees who were newly appointed or were moved into a Bargaining Unit 05 position after the effective date of the Increase, OSC will insert a row, effective the date of the Hire, Position Change or Transfer action using the Action/Reason codes of PAY/CSL (Pay Rate Change/Correct Salary) for annual employees and PAY/CRT (Pay Rate Change/Change Rate) for hourly employees.
All subsequent rows on the Job Data record also will be updated automatically by inserting additional rows with the Action/Reason codes of PAY/CSL (Pay Rate Change/Correct Salary) for annual employees and PAY/CRT (Pay Rate Change/Change Rate) for hourly employees provided the employee remained in Bargaining Unit 05.

Exceptions:

If the employee’s status on a Job Data row is Paid Leave of Absence with a Reason of Military Stipend, a row will not be automatically inserted. However, employees who were placed on Military Stipend Leave due to new military orders on or after the effective date of the increase are eligible for a recalculated military stipend based on the Salary and Location Pay increases. Eligible employees’ records will be updated manually by OSC to reflect the increase.
If the employee’s NYS grade equals 600 and the Equated to Grade and Approved Salary Rate fields on Position Data are populated, a row will not be automatically inserted.
If the employee’s Job Data information does not match the information on Position Data, a row will not be automatically inserted.

Salary Corrections

OSC will manually correct salaries for certain employees immediately following the application of the retroactive Salary Increases. Some examples are:

Promoted from CSEA, M/C or RRSU where the employee is holding longevity in the lower grade
Promoted from PEF with LLS to PEF, CSEA, M/C or RRSU

These corrections are needed since only the salary prior to adding the Longevity Lump Sum or Longevity Payment increase and applying the promotion percentage is subject to the Salary Increase. The corrections may result in an increase or decrease to the salary and may change a salary in a bargaining unit other than PEF. In cases where the employee has been overpaid and OSC reduces the salary in the pay period that the PEF Salary Increase is processed, the overpayment will be offset by the adjustment for the Salary Increase.

In addition, movement between PEF and a bargaining unit that was previously settled during Fiscal Year 2007-08 will be reviewed by OSC to insure the salaries are accurate.

Fixed Incremented Salaries (FIS)

After the raise processing is complete, OSC will review and update current FIS amounts for employees in all settled bargaining units.

Inconvenience Pay Full Increase

For employees who are in Bargaining Unit 05 on or after the effective date of the Inconvenience Pay increase (3/29/07 for Institution and 4/5/07 for Administration) and have an IPF row on the Additional Pay page in the amount of $550 that is effective on or after the effective date of the increase, OSC will update the existing IPF row to $575.

Inconvenience Pay Partial Increase

For employees who are in Bargaining Unit 05 on or after the effective date of the Inconvenience Pay increase (3/29/07 for Institution and 4/5/07 for Administration)and have an IPP row on the Additional Pay page that is effective on or after the effective date of the increase, OSC will update the existing IPP row as follows:

Current Amount	New Amount
$55	$58
$110	$115
$165	$173
$220	$230
$275	$288
$330	$345
$385	$403
$440	$460
$495	$518

Employees Receiving Inconvenience Pay Who Changed Bargaining Units

If after the effective date of the Inconvenience Pay increase, an employee moved from Bargaining Unit 05 into a bargaining unit that is not eligible for these increases and the employee continued to be eligible to receive Inconvenience Pay earnings, OSC will automatically insert a row, effective the date of the change in bargaining unit, to reflect the reduced Inconvenience Pay earnings.
If the employee was in a bargaining unit that was ineligible to receive the increase in Inconvenience Pay earnings on or after the effective date of the increase and then subsequently had a position change or transfer action into Bargaining Unit 05 and continued to be eligible for Inconvenience Pay earnings, OSC will automatically insert a row to reflect the increase in Inconvenience Pay, effective the date of movement into Bargaining Unit 05.

Location Pay

OSC will automatically increase eligible employees’ Location Pay (LOC) or (LMH) on the Additional Pay page from $1,302 to $1,850 or from $651 to $1,000 respectively, effective 3/27/08 (Institution) or 4/3/08 (Administration).

Automatic Retroactive Processing

OSC will automatically calculate the retroactive payments resulting from the following:

April 2007 General Salary Increase
April 2008 General Salary Increase
2007 Inconvenience Pay (IPF, IPP) increases
2008 Location Pay (LOC, LMH) increases

For eligible employees who have worked in more than one (1) agency and have been paid by all agencies using the same Employee Record Number since the effective date of the increases, all retroactive adjustments will be paid in the most current agency.

For eligible employees who have worked in more than one (1) agency and have been paid from more than one (1) Employee Record Number since the effective date of the increases, the retroactive adjustment for earnings in each Employee Record Number will be paid in the most current agency, on the appropriate pay cycle, under each Employee Record Number.

Retroactive Adjustments for Additional Pay and Time Entry Earnings

Time Entry earn codes that are calculated based on an employee’s salary rate and additional salary factors such as Overtime (OTA) and Holiday Pay (HPA) will be automatically adjusted.

The following Earn Codes will be adjusted automatically:

PEF Over 40 Hrs OT LSP (O40), Contract Pay Regular Earnings (CON), Extra Time (EXT), Holiday Pay (HPA), Holiday Pay 1.5 (HPB), Holiday Pay-Hourly (HPH), Inconvenience Pay Full (IPF), Inconvenience Pay Part (IPP), Location Pay (LOC), Location Pay Mid-Hudson (LMH), Lump Sum Payment-Vacation (LSA), Lump Sum Payment-OT Accruals (LSB), Lump Sum Payment-Vol Reduct (LSH), Lost Time (LT1), OT for Annuals (OTA), OT Straight Rate for Annuals (OTB), Regular Pay Hourly (RGH), Recall Overtime (RCL), Regular Pay Salary Employee (RGS), Recall Standby OT (ROC), Standby-Classified (SBC), Standby OT Classified (SOC), Summer School Hours (SSH), Salary LSP Annuals (SLS), Overtime Waiver(OTW)

Retroactive Adjustments for Employees Currently Inactive Who Have An Outstanding Overpayment

For employees who are Inactive at the time of payment, the retroactive raise adjustment will be applied to any Overpayment (OVP) set up in Additional Pay that has a Goal Amount and Goal Balance that are not equal. The payroll system will determine the difference between the Goal Balance and Goal Amount and will deduct the difference from the employee’s check. If the amount of the positive earnings is not sufficient to deduct the entire overpayment, the system will deduct the amount of positive earnings possible and update the OVP Goal Balance accordingly.

Retroactive Payments for Workers’ Compensation Supplemental Program

OSC will calculate retroactive adjustments for employees who received a Supplemental payment under one of the Workers’ Compensation Supplemental Program. OSC’s Workers’ Compensation Unit will enter the adjustment on the Time Entry page using the Earn Code WCA (Workers Comp Adjustment) in the pay period after the Increases are processed.

Retroactive Payments for Employees Receiving Military Stipends

For employees who were placed on Military Stipend Leave with or without pay on or after the effective date of the increases as a result of new military orders, OSC will recalculate the amount of Military Stipend.

For those who received a stipend, the increase in biweekly stipend will be updated on the Job Data record by inserting a new row to reflect the new biweekly stipend amount. Any additional adjustment that is required due to the change in stipend that will not be calculated automatically by the retro process will be reported by OSC in the Time Entry page using the Earn Code ADJ.
For those who did not receive a stipend but became eligible for a stipend because of the increased salary, OSC will take the necessary action on the Job Data and/or Time Entry pages to pay the required increases.

Agency Actions

New Hires, Rehires, Position Changes, and Transfers Reported in the Same Period as the Automatic Increases

Agencies must report salaries based on the existing 2007 Salary Schedule when processing pay changes, position changes, and transfers in the pay period in which the Increase will be processed.

Increased Hiring Rates

Agencies must review salaries for employees who received an Increased Hiring Rate during Fiscal Year 2007-08 or Fiscal Year 2008-09 in order to determine whether the salary will need to be corrected after the payment. If the Increased Hiring Rate is a specific amount added to the Hiring Rate of the grade and the Department of Civil Service does not intend to increase the amount, the salary will need to be recalculated using the Hiring Rate from the appropriate 2007 or 2008 Salary Schedule plus the amount of the Increased Hiring Rate. While OSC will review employees with the Reason code of IHR or LIH in their Job Data record to determine which employees will need salary corrections, it is the agency’s responsibility to identify and review these employees as well as submit salary corrections as soon as possible after the payment is processed in order to avoid an overpayment.

Composite Salaries

Agencies must review employees in composite positions (identified by Increment Code 2222) to verify the proper salary increases have been applied. Agencies should also update General Comments.

Terminating Hourly Employees Who Are No Longer Active

Since the increase will be automatically applied to all hourly employees who are Active on or after the effective date of the increases, the agency should terminate employees before the raise is processed if the employee is no longer employed by the agency, effective the day after the last date worked.

Additional Pay Reporting

When reporting Inconvenience Pay earnings for employees in Bargaining Unit 05 in the pay period in which the automatic increase will be processed, the agency must use the new amount.
When reporting adjustments for Inconvenience Pay due to late hire, rehire, or mid-period change, the adjustment reported in Additional Pay must be calculated based on the new amount.

Time Entry Reporting

When reporting RGS and RGO earnings in the pay period in which the raise will be processed, the agency must use the increased salary to calculate the RGS or RGO amount. The payroll system will not adjust RGS earnings reported in the current pay period.
When reporting an earnings amount for an earn code that is calculated using the employee’s salary rate such as OTT (Out of Title Overtime), the agency may report the Out of Title earnings using the increased rate.

Reporting Retroactive Adjustments

The following Time Entry and Additional Pay earnings will not be adjusted automatically. Therefore, commencing in the pay period in which the raise is processed, the agency may report the appropriate retroactive adjustments in the Time Entry page, using the Earn Code AJR and the appropriate Earnings Begin and End Dates. An explanation of the adjustment must be included in the Time Entry comments or on the General Comments page.

ADJ Adjustment
AIF Adjust Inconvenience Pay
AIP Adjust Inconvenience Pay Part
ES2 Extra Service Amount
EXO Extra Time Override
FEE (adjust only if employee is paid based on a per diem rate)
LSI Lump Sum Payment Override
LTO Lost Time Override
OTO Overtime Override
OTT Out of Title Overtime
RGO Regular Salary Override
SES Summer Session
SLO Salary Lump Sum Payment Override
SOO Standby OT Override
SOV Standby Override

Adjusting Earnings Codes Due To Changes In Retroactive Salary

The following earnings must be reviewed due to the changes in the salary:

Time Entry

Pay Equities

Institution Teachers in Pay Basis Codes 21P or CAL who were paid pay equities using Earns Code BAL (Balance of Contract) must be reviewed to determine any changes in the payment. Any additional amount due should be submitted as an AJR (Adjust Raise). If the pay equity resulted in an overpayment, the additional overpayment should be recovered using –AJR (negative Adjust Raise).

Additional Pay

Geographic Pay

Agencies must retroactively adjust the Geographic Pay Differential (GEO) for all eligible employees whose salary is currently above Job Rate, or will be above Job Rate as a result of the salary increases in both 2007 and 2008, by reducing the GEO amount due by the amount that the employee is over Job Rate.

Reporting An Adjustment When Automatic Retroactive Adjustment Is Incorrect

When certain conditions exist in an employee’s record, the automatic retroactive adjustment may be incorrect. Therefore, the agency is responsible for identifying employees who meet these conditions and, if required, must submit the necessary adjustment of earnings in the Time Entry page, using the Earn Code AJR and appropriate Begin and End Dates.

If an overpayment of earnings is identified after the automatic increase is processed but before the paycheck is received by the employee, the employee must be notified of the overpayment and the adjustment that will be reported in a subsequent pay period.

If an employee had a check returned or exchanged on an AC 230 for service dates on or after the effective date of the increase, the payroll system does not consider the AC 230 when calculating the automatic retroactive adjustment. Therefore, the agency should review the automatic retroactive adjustment and determine the amount of the adjustment to be reported.
If an employee’s Pay Basis Code changed from HRY to ANN, CAL or 21P, the agency must review the automatic retroactive adjustment and determine if it is correct. If the adjustment is not correct, the agency must report an adjustment of earnings.
If an employee was paid on an AC 39 (Typewritten Payroll), the payroll system will not adjust the earnings processed on the AC 39. The agency must report an adjustment of earnings.
If an employee has previously had a negative retroactive adjustment calculated by the system, it is the agency’s responsibility to review the new retroactive calculation for the raise in order to determine if any new negative calculated retroactive adjustments must be addressed again.

The agency must then inform OSC how to handle the negative retroactive adjustment by entering the instructions on the General Comments page.

If any additional adjustments are required, the agency should report them on the Time Entry page using the Earn Code AJR.

OSC will provide a query to assist agencies in identifying employees whose retroactive adjustments had been previously turned off (not processed). Agencies should review the query results for these employees and report the additional adjustment if required in the Time Entry page using the Earn Code AJR.

Control-D Report Available Prior to Raise Processing

NHRP709 Mass Salary Increase Exception Report

The NHRP709 will be available for agency review prior to the processing of the automatic increases. The report is available for agencies and identifies employees who will not receive an automatic Increase. Fields on the report include EmplID, Employee Record Number, Employee Name, Grade, Bargaining Unit, Pay Basis Code, Part-time Percentage and Salary. The report identifies the reason the employee’s salary will not be increased with one of the following messages:

NYS Position Has Both Equated Grade and NTE
Position and Job Do Not Match

This report will also identify any employees who are currently below Hiring Rate. OSC will automatically update the salary to the Hiring Rate based on the effective date and grade of the employee, Exception: If the employee’s Increment Code is 2222 or Salary Grade is 600 with an equated grade, OSC will not increase the salary to Hiring Rate but instead will increase the current salary by the appropriate percentage increase.

If an employee appears on this report but is due an Increase, the agency must:

Submit the necessary corrections on the Job Action Request page to correct the data on the incorrect Job Data row(s) using the appropriate Action/Reason code. After the row(s) is corrected, the automatic Increase will be applied.
Submit a position change request to Dave Lynch in the Personnel Processing Unit at (518) 486-3889 if the data is incorrect on the Position Data page in PayServ but is correct in NYSTEP. The position will be updated to reflect the change and the automatic Increase will be applied provided the agency’s position request contains the same information as the position information in NYSTEP.

Control-D Report Available After Raise Processing

OSC will issue an email, after the processing of the automatic increases, to inform agencies when the following Control-D reports will be available.

NHRP703 Mass Salary Additional Pay Report

This report identifies all employees receiving an automatic increase for Location Pay (LOC) or Location Pay Mid-Hudson (LMH). Fields on this report include EmplID, Employee Record Number, Employee Name, Earn Code, Grade, Salary Plan, Bargaining Unit and Additional Pay Amount.

NHRP704 Mass Salary Payment Report

This report identifies all employees who received the Salary Increase and identifies all of the employee’s salaries that were automatically increased in an eligible bargaining unit. Other fields on the report include the EmplID, Employee Record Number, Employee Name, Grade, Bargaining Unit, Pay Basis Code, Part-time Percentage, Action Reason and Increment Code.

NHRP709 Mass Salary Increase Exception Report

This report identifies all employees who did not receive an automatic Salary Increase on one or more Job Data rows. Fields on the report include EmplID, Employee Record Number, Employee Name, Grade, Bargaining Unit, Pay Basis Code, Part-time Percentage and FTA Salary. The report identifies the reason the employee’s salary was not increased with one of the following messages:

NYS Position Has Both Equated Grade and NTE
Position and Job Do Not Match

Deduction Information

All general deductions for employees whose status is Terminated, Retired or Deceased will be automatically cancelled by OSC with the exception of the following:

Code	Narrative
410	Health Care Spending Account
420	NY Dependent Care Contribution
425	Repay State Loans/Debt
426	Higher Ed Repay State Loan
428	Dependent Care
433	Total Unemployment Ins Owed
500	Medicare Deficiency
501	Social Security Deficiency
502	NYS SS/Medicare Deficiency
GARNSH	Garnishments
HIATRG	Regular After Tax Health
HIATSP	Special After Tax Health Adj
HIBTRG	Regular Before Tax Health
HIBTSP	Special Before Tax Health Adj

Undeliverable Checks

Inactive employees may be eligible for a payment as a result of the adjustments. If the agency has made an effort to deliver the check to the employee but the check has been returned and is undeliverable, the agency should forward the check to the NYS Department of Tax and Finance, Division of Treasury, per instructions in Payroll Bulletin No. 456.

Checks issued to eligible employees who are now deceased should be returned with a completed Next of Kin Affidavit (Form AC 934-P) and a Report of Check Exchange (Form AC 1476-P).

For recipients of a previously deceased employee's payroll checks where a Next of Kin Affidavit and Report of Check Exchange forms have been submitted, OSC will accept a photocopy of these forms to process the exchange of the check.

Payroll Register and Employee Paycheck/Advice

All retroactive adjustments will be displayed on the payroll register and the employee’s paycheck stub or direct deposit advice.

Questions

Questions about salary increases may be emailed to the Salary Determination mailbox.

All other questions may be emailed to the Payroll Audit mailbox.