Unified Court System Bulletin No. UCS-251

Subject
November 2017 Adjustment to Basic Annual Salary for Bargaining Units SR and SY and New Salary Administration Plan UCO
Date Issued
November 7, 2017

Purpose

To inform agencies of OSC’s automatic processing of the Adjustment to Basic Annual Salary reflective of the October 2014, April 2015, April 2016 and April 2017 Salary Increases for Bargaining Units SR and SY, and provide instructions for payments not processed automatically. Also to notify agencies of new Salary Administration Plan UCO (UCS Court Officers of NYS).

Affected Employees

Employees in the following bargaining units who meet the eligibility criteria:

New York State Court Officers Association Bargaining Unit SR
New York State Supreme Court Officers Association Bargaining Unit SY

Background

Chapter 98 of the Laws of 2017, in conjunction with Chapter 400 of the Laws of 2014, which implemented the 2011-2021 Agreements between the State of New York Unified Court System (UCS) and the New York State Court Officers Association (Bargaining Unit SR) and between the UCS and the New York State Supreme Court Officers Association (Bargaining Unit SY), provides for a salary increase of two percent (2.00%) or $1,000 effective October 1, 2014, two percent (2.00%) or $1,000 effective April 1, 2015, two percent (2.00%) or $1,000 effective April 1, 2016 and two percent (2.00%) or $1,000 effective April 1, 2017 for all eligible represented non-judicial employees in Bargaining Units SR or SY.

The Agreements provide for a prospective Adjustment to Basic Annual Salaries reflective of these increases. Retroactive payments will be withheld until an appropriation expressly dedicated to the payment of the full amount of the retroactive increases is granted. A separate bulletin will be issued once the appropriation for the retroactive increases is granted.

Effective Date(s)

The Adjustment to Basic Annual Salaries will be paid using the following effective date and check date.

Pay Cycle/Pay Period Type Payment Effective Date Check Date
Administration 16 Lag 11/02/17 11/29/17

Eligibility Criteria

The following employees in Bargaining Units SR or SY with a status of Active (A), Paid Leave of Absence (P) or Leave of Absence (L) with an Action Reason code of WDL (Workers Compensation Leave) as of 11/02/2017 are eligible to receive the Adjustment to Basic Annual Salary.

  • Employees with a Pay Basis Code of ANN who are in an NS position (Grade 560)
  • Employees with a Pay Basis Code of ANN who are in a graded position (Grade 501-538)
Incumbency Criteria

The information regarding incumbency criteria is provided for informational purposes. Although the October 2014, April 2015, April 2016 and April 2017 retroactive increases are not payable until an appropriation for paying the retroactive monies is granted, these raises should be factored into calculating the Adjustment to Basic Annual Salary.

2014: Employees who are Active or on an approved leave of absence, and in Bargaining Unit F8, G9, DR, SA, SD, SG, SK, SN, SR or SY, on 09/24/2014 are considered incumbents and are eligible for the October 2014 two percent (2.00%) salary increase or $1,000, whichever is greater. If the employee does not meet the incumbency criteria, the employee will be eligible for a two percent (2.00%) salary increase only.

2015: Employees who are Active or on an approved leave of absence, and in Bargaining Unit F8, G9, DR, SA, SD, SG, SK, SN, SR or SY, on 03/31/2015 are considered incumbents and are eligible for the April 2015 two percent (2.00%) salary increase or $1,000, whichever is greater.If the employee does not meet the incumbency criteria, the employee will be eligible for a two percent (2.00%) salary increase only.

2016: Employees who are Active or on an approved leave of absence, and in Bargaining Unit F8, G9, DR, SA, SD, SG, SK, SN, SR or SY, on 03/31/2016 are considered incumbents and are eligible for the April 2016 two percent (2.00%) salary increase or $1,000, whichever is greater. If the employee does not meet the incumbency criteria, the employee will be eligible for a two percent (2.00%) salary increase only.

2017: Employees who are active or on an approved leave of absence, and in Bargaining Unit F8, G9, DR, SA, SD, SG, SK, SN, SR or SY on 03/31/2017 are considered incumbents and are eligible for the April 2017 two percent (2.00%) salary increase or $1,000, whichever is greater. If the employee does not meet the incumbency criteria, the employee will be eligible for a two percent (2.00%) salary increase only.

Note: Bargaining Units F8, G9, DR, SA, SD, SG, SK and SN are considered for incumbency purposes only. If the employee is in one of these Bargaining Units on the 11/2/2017 effective date, the Adjustment to Basic Annual Salary for Bargaining Units SR and SY will not be applied to that Job Data row. Adjustment to Basic Annual Salary for Bargaining Units SR and SY will only be applied to Job Data rows where the Bargaining Unit on the Job Data record is SR or SY.

Reports Available Prior to Processing

OSC will send a file identifying all employees who appear eligible for the Adjustment to Basic Annual Salary for Bargaining Units SR and SY. UCS will compare this file to an agency-generated file to be sure all employees are identified.

New Salary Administration Plan

Prior to implementation of the 2011-2016 collective bargaining unit agreements, all of the bargaining units in the Unified Court System were processed using the same salary schedule and as a result, were linked to one Salary Administration Plan (UCS – Unified Court System).

Since the 2011-2021 Agreements include an additional raise not provided for in other previously signed agreements, and also contain the special provisions for the Adjustment to Basic Annual Salary, a new Salary Administration Plan UCO (UCS Court Officers of NYS) was created and linked to the April 2010 salary schedule and the April 2017 salary schedule as of 11/2/2017. Once appropriation is received for the retroactive increases, the October 2014, April 2015, and April 2016 salary schedules will be added to Salary Administration Plan UCO, and the effective date of the April 2017 salary schedule will be changed from 11/2/2017 to 4/6/2017.

Therefore, prior to processing the Adjustment to Basic Annual Salary for Bargaining Units SR and SY, OSC will automatically update the Salary Administration Plan for Bargaining Units SR and SY to UCO on the Position Data page and Job Data page as follows:

Position Data Page

The Salary Administration Plan will be updated to UCO (UCS Court Officers of NYS) on all positions in effect on or after 9/25/2014 with a Bargaining Unit equal to SR or SY, and a Status of Active. If a row does not currently exist with the Effective Date, a new row will be inserted with the following information; otherwise the Salary Administration Plan will be updated on the existing row. In addition, the Salary Administration Plan will be updated on all subsequent rows meeting the criteria.

Effective Date: 09/25/14
Reason: Z11 (Update of Position Data)
Salary Admin Plan: UCO (UCS Court Officers of NYS)
Job Data Page

The Salary Administration Plan will be updated to UCO (UCS Court Officers of NYS) for all employees with a Bargaining Unit equal to SR or SY and a Payroll Status of Active (A), Leave with Pay (P) or Leave of Absence (L) on 9/25/2014. A new row will be inserted with the following information; if a row does not currently exist with the Effective Date, a new row will be inserted with Sequence 0; otherwise the new row will be sequence one greater than the row already existing in the employee’s job history. In addition, the Salary Administration Plan will be updated on all subsequent rows meeting the criteria regardless of the employee’s Payroll Status.

Effective Date: 09/25/14
Action: Position Change
Reason: Z11 (Update of Position Data)
Salary Administration Plan: UCO (UCS Court Officers of NYS

Agency Actions

The Office of Court Administration will submit to OSC a file containing all job history rows for all employees eligible for the Adjustment to Basic Annual Salary. This file at minimum requires Employee ID, Employee Record Number, and NYS Job Code (from the Position Data panel), along with the new salary as of 11/2/2017 and each subsequent job row in history.

Inserting Rows on the File

UCS must review each employee to determine eligibility for a salary increase. A row must be inserted on the file to apply the raise as of 11/2/2017 dates and all subsequently affected rows.

For inserted rows, UCS must populate the following fields:

  • Employee ID
  • Empl Record Number
  • Job Code
  • Effective Date
  • Sequence Number
  • Comp Rate – the end result of all applied salary increases for which the employee is eligible
  • New Action Code - PAY
  • New Action Reason Code - CSL

If the employee is not eligible for a salary increase on 11/2/2017 or on a subsequent row, no row should be inserted on the file.

If a raise-eligible employee in Bargaining Unit SR or SY subsequently transfers into another bargaining unit after the effective date of the Adjustment to Basic Annual Salary, UCS must calculate the employee’s new salary on these rows. OSC will make any necessary corrections on the employee’s Job Data record.

No other changes may be made on the file. If it is discovered that any corrections besides those directly related to the application of the salary increases are necessary, UCS must request these corrections through PayServ. The salary increase file is only to be used to process the salary increases on the effective date of the Adjustment to Basic Annual Salary and to update the salaries of affected employees’ job histories as necessary.

The final file must be returned to OSC no later than 11/3/2017 in order to be processed for the paycheck date 11/29/2017.

Updating Subsequent Job Data Rows After the Final File is Sent to OSC

Agencies must submit job transactions in PP 16L based on the 2010 salary schedule. UCS will provide to OSC a list of salary changes to make as a result of the changes entered in PP 16L for eligible employees in Bargaining Unit SR or SY that were not included on the final file sent to OSC on or before 11/3/2017.

OSC Actions

OSC will upload the final file into PayServ on 11/16/2017, after all job requests for Bargaining Units SR and SY are complete.

Only new rows inserted by UCS onto the file will be loaded into PayServ. If the effective dated row on the file already exists on Job Data, the inserted row will be sequenced one greater than the highest sequenced row previously existing in Job Data. If the effective dated row does not exist in Job Data, the inserted row will be Sequence 0.

Control-D and Other Report Available After Processing

Rejected Upload Rows

If any new rows provided by UCS on the final file are rejected by the upload program, a list of the rejected rows will be sent to UCS for review.

The following Control-D report will be available for agency review after the automatic increases have been processed. All reports are sorted by Department ID, then by employee name in alphabetical order.

NHRP704 – Mass Salary Increase Report

This report identifies all employees who received the Adjustment to Basic Annual Salary. The report identifies all employee’s salaries that were increased in an eligible bargaining unit.

Tax Information

These monies are taxable income, will be included in the employee’s taxable gross and are subject to all employment taxes and income taxes. Income taxes will be calculated using the employee’s current Tax Marital Status and Withholding Allowances on the Update Employee Tax Data page.

Questions

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

Questions regarding position information may be directed to the Position Management mailbox.