Unified Court System Bulletin No. UCS-155

Subject
2009 Year-End Adjustment for Judges and Justices of the Unified Court System
Date Issued
November 30, 2009

Purpose

To inform agencies of OSC’s automatic processing and to provide instructions for reporting transactions in Pay Period 19C.

Affected Employees

Judges who are paid using the LEG Pay Basis Code

Background

Based on an agreement between the Office of the State Comptroller and the Office of Court Administration, the total amount of regular earnings actually paid to a judge for each calendar year must equal:

  • the judge’s statutory salary rate; or
  • the prorated statutory salary rate for judges who serve only part of the calendar year; or
  • the composite salary based on the number of days actually served at each statutory salary rate for judges who incur a salary change that is effective after January 1.

To ensure that judges are paid their statutory, prorated statutory or composite salary (whichever is applicable), an adjustment of regular earnings is required to be paid in the final paycheck of the calendar year.

Effective Date

Pay Period 19C, paychecks dated 12/23/09

Eligibility Criteria

Judges who serve the entire calendar year are eligible for a year-end adjustment, provided the statutory salary is not evenly divisible by 26. Judges who are active on December 31, 2009 and serve the entire calendar year at more than one (1) statutory salary rate, or judges who serve only part of the year (same or different salary rate) are eligible for a year-end adjustment to be paid in the final paycheck of the year, unless the total amount of regular earnings that will be paid in the calendar year equals the judge’s prorated statutory or composite salary, whichever is applicable.

Exception Listings and Control-D Report Available Prior to Processing

The following exception listings and Control-D report will be available for agency review on December 4, 2009 (after the paychecks for December 9, 2009 are confirmed):

  • The exception listings identify judges who will not receive an automatic year-end adjustment based on the exception criteria described in the “Exception Criteria” section. These listings will be emailed to Kelly Flanigan.
  • Control-D report NPAY 586 (Pay Basis Code LEG Year End Adjustment) identifies judges tentatively scheduled to receive the automatic adjustment. The amount identified in the RGS Balance Due column is the amount of RGS that will be paid in the final paycheck of the year.

Exception Criteria

Judges who meet one (1) or more of the following exception criteria will not have their adjustment calculated automatically. OSC will, however, calculate normal biweekly earnings for these employees.

Exception Criteria
  • Judges who have OVP balances for 2009.
  • Non-judicial employees who were transferred into a judicial position on December 25, 2008 or later.
  • Judges who were returned to the payroll using the Action Code of REH (Rehire) or RFL (Return from Leave) in calendar year 2009.
  • Judges who have RGS earnings paid in calendar year 2009 but earned in a previous year.

Prorated Statutory or Composite Salary Calculation

The prorated statutory or composite salary calculation for judges who were hired and/or had a salary change after January 1, 2009 is determined as follows:

  1. Determine the number of calendar days actually served in calendar year 2009.Note: For judges who had more than one salary rate, determine the number of calendar days served during the year at each salary rate.
  2. Divide the number of calendar days served at each salary rate (Step #1) by 365 and round to seven (7) decimal places.
  3. Multiply the result (Step #2) by the applicable statutory salary rate and round to two (2) decimal places.
  4. For judges who had more than one salary rate, add the results for each salary rate.

OSC Actions

OSC will automatically calculate the year-end adjustment, provided the following conditions are met and the judge does not meet the exception criteria described in the "Exception Criteria" section. The total amount of regular earnings due in the final paycheck of the year will be processed by OSC using the Earnings Code RGS.

  • For judges who served the entire calendar year and did not have a status change or change in salary, the total RGS will be calculated by determining the difference between the total amount of regular earnings received for earnings dates December 25, 2008 through December 9, 2009 and the statutory salary as reported on the Compensation tab on the Job Data page.
  • For judges who served the entire calendar year and did not have a status change but had a change in their statutory salary, the total RGS will be calculated by determining the difference between the composite salary and the amount of regular earnings received for earnings dates December 25, 2008 through December 9, 2009.
  • For judges who were appointed after January 1, 2009 and are still active on December 31, 2009 and did not have a subsequent status change, the total RGS will be calculated by determining the difference between the prorated salary calculation and the amount of regular earnings paid from the date of hire through December 9, 2009.

Agency Actions in Pay Period 19C

The agency must calculate and report the year-end adjustment for those judges who appear on one or more of the exception listings.  This adjustment must be calculated as follows:

  1. Determine the amount of salary entitlement for calendar year 2009 using the prorated or composite salary calculation.
  2. Determine the amount earned and paid in calendar year 2009 using earnings codes RGS, RGO, RRS and ADJ, including the amount of regular earnings (RGS) that will be calculated by the payroll system for the final paycheck of the year.
  3. Subtract the amount paid as determined in Step #2 from the amount of salary entitlement as determined in Step #1.
  4. Enter the result of Step #3 on the Time Entry page using the Earnings Code JYA (Judges Year End Adjustment).
Earnings Begin Date: 12/10/09
Earnings End Date: 12/23/09
Earn Code: JYA
Amount: The adjustment amount calculated above
Comments: “Refer to General Comments”
General Comments

An explanation of the JYA calculation must be provided.

Control-D Report Available After Processing

The following Control-D report will be available for agency review December 16, 2009, after the year-end adjustment has been processed:

NPAY586 Pay Basis Code LEG Year End Adjustment

This report identifies all judges who automatically received a year-end adjustment in the last paycheck of calendar year 2009.

Payroll Register and Employee’s Paycheck/Advice

The Earnings Code RGS will be displayed on the payroll register and the earnings code description “Regular Pay Salary Employee” and amount will appear on the employee’s paycheck stub or direct deposit advice.

If applicable, the Earnings Code JYA will be displayed on the payroll register and the earnings code description “Judges Year End Adjustment” and amount will appear on the employee’s paycheck stub or direct deposit advice, in addition to the Earnings Code RGS.

If the Earnings Code RGO is reported, this earnings code will replace Earnings Code RGS and will be displayed on the payroll register and the earnings code description “Regular Pay Override” and amount will appear on the employee’s paycheck stub or direct deposit advice.

Agency Actions in Pay Period 20C

Agencies must not report any actions for Pay Period 20C until after the 12/23/09 paychecks have been confirmed.

Questions

Questions about this Bulletin may be directed to the Non-Executive Audit mailbox.