CUNY Bulletin No. CU-557

Subject
CUNY Retroactive Rate Increases for Stationary Engineer, Senior Stationary Engineer and Oiler
Date Issued
October 14, 2016

Purpose

To explain the agency procedures for reporting rate increases and adjustments for miscellaneous earnings.

Affected Employees

CUNY employees in the Skilled Trade titles of Stationary Engineer, Senior Stationary Engineer and Oiler

Background

The rate increases are pursuant to a Consent Determination entered and filed on July 7, 2016 between the Comptroller of the City of New York and the Local # 15, International Union of Operating Engineers for retroactive increases for employees in the titles of Stationary Engineer, Senior Stationary Engineer and Oiler. This determination covers the period of October 8, 2009 through June 30, 2017.

The agreement provides for retroactive increases to the hourly rates effective 10/08/09, 07/01/10, 07/01/11, 07/01/12, 07/01/13, 07/01/14, 07/01/15 and 07/01/16.

The revised rate chart and additional information are contained in a memorandum from Carmelo Batista, Jr. dated August 4, 2016.

Effective Date(s)

Increases may be submitted in Pay Period 17C (Institution), paychecks dated 11/23/16

Agency Actions

Reporting the Rate Increases

To ensure all Job Action requests are submitted for each employee, the agency should submit requests in effective date order from oldest date to current date. For example, if appropriate, submit the 10/08/09 Pay Change, followed by the 07/01/10 Pay Change.

To increase the hourly rate(s), the agency must submit the following requests regardless of the employee’s status:

  • For all rate increases, request a Pay Change with the Action/Reason code of Pay Rate Chg/CRT (Pay Rate Change/Change Rate) on the Job Action Request page, using the effective date of the appropriate increase, and submit the new hourly rate.
  • A separate request must be made for each of the rows that exist on the employee’s Job Data page.
Reporting Retroactive Adjustments for All Miscellaneous Earnings

The agency must calculate and report the retroactive adjustment for all miscellaneous earnings.

The Time Entry Earnings Code AJR must be used to report the combined retroactive adjustment for all earnings. The agency must provide an explanation of the adjustment in the General Comments page or on a separate worksheet. If the agency uses a worksheet, the worksheet must be received in OSC’s Audit Section by the agency deadline for Pay Period 16C.

The Earnings Code AJR must be reported as follows:

Earnings Begin Date: Enter the first date to be adjusted.
Earnings End Date: Enter the last date to be adjusted.
Earnings Code: Enter AJR.
Amount: Enter the total amount of the adjustment.

OSC Actions

Processing Automatic Retroactive Adjustments

Provided the agency appropriately submits the applicable increases, OSC will automatically process the retroactive adjustments for all regular hours, RGH, and miscellaneous earnings of LSL, LT3 and PLB, paid to an employee regardless of the employee’s status. The agency should refer to the AJR procedure above to submit retroactive adjustments for all other miscellaneous earnings.

Deduction Information for Inactive Employees

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

Code Description
406 Strike/Discip Fine
409 CUNY Disciplinary Fine
425 Repay State Loans/Debt
426 Higher Ed Repay State Loan
445 HC Flexible Spending
580 CUNY Medicare Deficiency Flat Rate
581 CUNY Social Security Deficiency Flat Rate
582 CUNY SS/Med Deficiency
GARNSH Garnishments
603 TIAA Before Tax Arrears
604 TIAA After Tax Arrears

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.

The monies will be included in the employee’s taxable gross and will be reported on the employee’s Form W-2.

Payroll Register and Employee’s Paycheck/Advice

All retroactive adjustments will be displayed on the Payroll Register using the appropriate earnings code and the associated amount. The description of each earnings code and the associated amount will appear on the employee’s paycheck stub or direct deposit advice unless there are more than 13 earnings codes. For these employees, agencies should utilize Locked Query #49 to identify a complete list of all regular earnings and retroactive adjustments.

Undeliverable Checks

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. 908.

Checks issued to eligible employees who are now deceased should be returned with a completed Next of Kin Affidavit (Form AC 934-P), original death certificate and a Report of Check Exchange (Form AC 1476-P). If a Next of Kin Affidavit has been previously submitted for a deceased employee’s payroll check, OSC will accept a photocopy of this form along with a new Report of Check Exchange.

Questions

Questions regarding transactions may be emailed to the Payroll Earnings mailbox.

Questions regarding Deductions may be directed to the Payroll Deduction mailbox.

Questions regarding Taxes should be directed to the Tax and Compliance mailbox.