Division of Housing and Community Renewal Bulletin No. DH-28

Subject
October 2007 Performance Advances and Longevity Payments for Employees Represented by Rent Regulation Services Unit (RRSU)
Date Issued
September 20, 2007

Purpose

To explain OSC’s automatic processing and to provide instructions for payments not processed automatically.

Affected Employees

Eligible employees in Bargaining Unit 67

Effective Date

October 4, 2007 for Pay Period 14L, paychecks dated October 31, 2007

Background

Chapter 9 of the Laws of 2005, Article 8, Section 131.6 of the Civil Service Law, Chapter 111 of the Laws of 2006, Civil Service Law Article 8, Section 130.10(c) and the 2003-2007 bargaining agreement between the State of New York and the Rent Regulation Services Unit provide for the payment of Performance Advances and Longevity Payments to eligible Rent Regulation Services Unit employees.

Eligibility

Performance Advance Requirements

RRSU employees whose base annual salary is below the Job Rate for their current position on the 4/1/07 Salary Schedule are eligible for a Performance Advance if the employee:

  • has completed one (1) year of service in such position by October 1, 2007; and
  • did not receive a Performance Advance in April 2007;
    and
  • received a “Satisfactory” rating or its equivalent on their last annual evaluation date.
Longevity Payment Requirements

RRSU employees who complete five (5) or ten (10) years of continuous service as defined by Section 130.3(e) of the Civil Service Law at a base annual salary equal to or greater than the Job Rate for their position are eligible for a Longevity Payment. The payment is effective on the first day of the pay period following completion of the required service.

OSC Actions

After payroll processing is completed for Pay Period 14L, OSC will process Performance Advances and Longevity Payments for eligible salaried employees whose status on 9/27/07 (Institution) or 10/4/07 (Administration) is Active, Paid Leave of Absence (except Sick Leave) or Workers’ Compensation Leave.

Performance Advance (Increment Code 1001 and Anniversary Date between 4/2/xx and 10/1/xx with current salary equal to or greater than the Hiring Rate):

OSC will automatically insert a row in the employee’s Job Data page effective 10/4/07 (Administration) to reflect the Performance Advance (not to exceed the Job Rate) using the Action/Reason code of PAY/PAV (Pay Rate Change/Performance Advance).

Promotion Recalculation (Increment Code 1004 with current salary equal to or greater than the Hiring Rate):

For employees who are entitled to a revised salary based on their FIS (Fixed Incremented Salary), OSC will automatically insert a row in the employee’s Job Data page effective 10/4/07 (Administration) using the Action/Reason code of PAY/PMR (Pay Rate Change/Promotion Recalculation) to reflect the FIS amount on the Job Data Compensation page provided the FIS amount is greater than the compensation rate on Job Data.

Note:

  • The resulting salary must be greater than the Hiring Rate.
  • The resulting salary can exceed the Job Rate of the current grade.
Longevity Payment (Increment Code 0210):
  • If the employee’s current salary is equal to or greater than the Job Rate but less than Merit Step 3 and the employee has an MST (Merit Step) row with no RMT (Remove Merit Step) row in the same grade as the current grade, OSC will add $850.00 to the current salary not to exceed the Merit Step 3 amount using the Action/Reason code of PAY/LGP (Pay Rate Change/Longevity Payment) on the inserted row.
  • If the employee’s current salary is equal to or greater than the Job Rate but less than Longevity Step 2 and the employee has no MST row or has an MST row and an RMT row with the same effective date, OSC will add $850.00 to the current salary not to exceed the Longevity Step 2 amount using the Action/Reason code of PAY/LGP (Pay Rate Change/Longevity Payment) on the inserted row.

Note: The additional stipulation of the Merit Step rows only applies to employees who are at the grade 18 level.

Transactions processed automatically will appear on the NHRP520, Daily Outbound Transaction file.

Automatic Update of Increment Codes

OSC will automatically update the increment codes, as appropriate, for employees in Pay Period 14L. Employees who receive Performance Advances or Promotion Recalculations will have their increment codes updated on the Performance Advance or Promotion Recalculation row.

After the Performance Advances are processed in Pay Period 14L, OSC will automatically insert a row on the Job Data Page, as appropriate, for employees with an increment code of 1003 using the Action/Reason code of DTA/CIC (Data Change/Correct Increment Code) effective 4/5/07 (Administration).

Current Code Update to
1001* 1001 if new salary is below Job Rate 0710 if new salary is Job Rate of the grade
1003* 1001 if current salary is equal to or greater than Hiring Rate but less than Job Rate and the Anniversary Date is 4/2/XX -10/1/XX
1004 0001 if Anniversary Date is 10/2/XX-4/1/XX and the new salary is below Job Rate 1001 if Anniversary Date is 4/2/XX-10/1/XX and the new salary is below Job Rate 0710 if FIS Salary is equal to or greater than Job Rate
0210 0210 will not be changed

* If the Anniversary Date is between 10/2/XX-4/1/XX, the employee will be identified on the Mass Increment Payment Exception Report.

Agency Actions - Pay Period 14

The following procedures must be used by the agency when reporting transactions in Pay Period 14L:

  • For Pay Changes, Position Changes, and Transfers with effective dates on or before 10/4/07:
    • The agency must not include the Performance Advance or Longevity Payment in the salary rate reported in the Pay Rate field.
    • The agency must report the proper increment code for October 2007.
  • For Pay Changes, Position Changes, and Transfers with effective dates after 10/4/07:
    • The agency must include, if applicable, the Performance Advance or Longevity Payment in the salary reported in the Pay Rate field.
    • The agency must report the projected increment code for October 2008.
  • For employees who are on paid Sick Leave at the time of payment:
    • Employees on paid Sick Leave will not receive payments automatically.
    • The agency must enter a request on the Job Action Request page using the appropriate Action/Reason code of PAY/PAV (Performance Advance or PAY/PMR (Promotion Recalculation) for employees who become eligible for the payments before being placed on paid Sick Leave.
    • The agency must enter a request on the Job Action Request page using the appropriate Action/Reason code of PAY/LGP (Longevity Pay) for employees who are eligible at the time of the payment.
  • For employees due an automatic Performance Advance or Longevity Payment in Pay Period 14 but who received an "Unsatisfactory" rating:
    • The agency must submit a Job Action Request using the Action/Reason of DTA/USP (Data Change/Unsatisfactory Performance) and enter the Increment Code 1003 to withhold a Performance Advance or 7777 to withhold a Longevity Payment.

NOTE: "Unsatisfactory" ratings should be reported in the same pay period in which the employee was rated.

Time Entry

To report miscellaneous earnings automatically calculated by the system (eg. overtime), agencies must separate earnings by pay period so the earnings will not overlap the effective date of the change.

Agency Actions - Beginning Pay Period 15

Beginning in Pay Period 15L, agencies that submit Rein Leave transactions on the Job Data page for eligible employees who return from a Leave of Absence without Pay (except Workers’ Compensation Leave) or a Paid Leave of Absence with a reason of Sick Leave or MLS (Military Stipend) with an effective date after Pay Period 14 must also enter the Action/Reason code of PAY/PAV, effective the date of the Rein Leave with the next effective sequence number.

If the effective date of the Rein Leave is before Pay Period 14, the agency must submit the Rein Leave and any additional rows to add the Performance Advance or Promotion Recalculation (PAY/PAV or PAY/ PMR) if applicable, effective 10/4/07.

Control-D Reports

The following report will be available in Control-D for agency review on 10/5/07. The report identifies employees who will not receive an automatic Performance Advance based on available information at the close of Pay Period 13. This will give agencies time to correct the employees’ records, if necessary, before automatic processing takes place.

Mass Increment Payment Exception Report (NHRP708)

This report identifies employees who will not receive an automatic Performance Advance or Longevity Payment. Fields on the report include EmplID, Employee Record Number, Employee Name, Grade, Bargaining Unit, Pay Basis Code, Part-time Percentage, Salary, FIS Amount and Increment Code. The report identifies the reason the employee’s salary will not be increased with one of the following messages:

Salary below Hiring Rate
Position and job do not match
FIS missing
FIS below Hiring Rate
FIS at or below current
Increment code missing
Increment code not in Anniversary Date range
Increment code invalid
Salary at or above Job Rate
Salary Below Job Rate
Salary at or above Longevity Step 2
Salary outside range

The following reports will be available for agency review after the automatic payments have been made. All reports will be sorted by agency code, then by employee name in alphabetical order.

Mass Salary Payment/Mass Increment Payment Report (NHRP704)

This report identifies all employees who received the automatic Performance Advance or Longevity Payment. The report identifies the employee’s increased salary. Other fields on the report include EmplID, Employee Record Number, Employee Name, Grade, Bargaining Unit, Pay Basis Code, Part-time Percentage, Action Reason and Increment Code.

Mass Increment Payment Exception Report (NHRP708)

This report identifies employees who did not receive an automatic Performance Advance or Longevity Payment. Fields on the report include EmplID, Employee Record Number, Employee Name, Grade, Bargaining Unit, Pay Basis Code, Part-time Percentage, Salary, FIS Amount and Increment Code. The report identifies the reason the employee’s salary was not increased with one of the following messages:

Salary below Hiring Rate
Position and job do not match
FIS missing
FIS below Hiring Rate
FIS at or below current
Increment code missing
Increment code not in Anniversary Date range
Increment code invalid
Salary at or above Job Rate
Salary Below Job Rate
Salary at or above Longevity Step 2
Salary outside range

Questions

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