Unified Court System Bulletin No. UCS-322

Subject
Reintroduction of Unified Court System CSEA Longevity Steps
Date Issued
April 7, 2023

Purpose

The purpose of this bulletin is to introduce a new Action Reason code to identify employees who receive a salary reconstruction due to the reintroduction of Longevity Steps for CSEA, Management Confidential (MC) and unrepresented employees of the Unified Court System beginning in April 2023 and to provide processing instructions to agencies.

Affected Employees

Employees who were in CSEA (Bargaining Unit 87), MC (Bargaining Unit 86) or unrepresented (Bargaining Unit CT or 88), collectively referred to as Salary Administration Plan UCC, and were at or above Maximum of their salary grade anytime from April 7, 2016, through March 29, 2023, may be affected.

Background

Chapter 400 of the Laws of 2014 and the 2011-2017 CSEA (BU 87) Agreement eliminated Longevity Steps (also called additional increments, longevity and/or extra longevity) for BU 87 beginning in April 2016. Consistent with practice, when a CSEA Agreement is reached, the negotiated changes were extended to MC and Unrepresented employees in Bargaining Units 86, 88 and CT.

Article 2, Section 37.3 of the New York State Judiciary Law, Chapter 1 of the Laws of 2023, and Section 7.10(5) of the CSEA Agreement for the years 2021-2026 reintroduce the Longevity Steps as of April 2023. Employees shall be placed on the April 1, 2023, salary schedule in accordance with their years of continuous service in their grade, including 1st Longevity and 2nd Longevity.  These changes are also extended to MC and Unrepresented employees in Bargaining Units 86, 88 and CT.

Affected employees may be entitled to a new salary and/or a new increment code effective March 30, 2023. All such changes will be indicated by a new Action Reason code.

Effective Dates

Salaries and Increment Codes for employees impacted by the April 2023 reintroduction of Longevity Steps for Salary Administration Plan UCC will be adjusted in the effective date and check date indicated below.

Year Pay Cycle/Pay Period Type Effective Date Check Date
2023 Administration 1 Lag 03/30/2023 04/26/2023

Eligibility Criteria

Employees in Salary Administration Plan UCC on 03/30/2023 with a Comp Rate Code of ANN and a status of Active, Paid Leave of Absence, or unpaid Leave of Absence, and who at any time from 04/07/2016 through 03/29/2023 were at or above Maximum for their salary grade will have their payroll history reviewed by the Unified Court System to determine if salaries and/or increment codes are impacted by the reintroduction of the CSEA Longevity Steps. Sample scenarios of eligible employees include but are not limited to:

  • Employees who reached Maximum in Salary Administration Plan UCC and were scheduled to move to a longevity step in or after April 2016.
  • Employees who were at or above Maximum in a Salary Administration Plan NUC, UCO or UCS position and moved into a Salary Administration Plan UCC position in or after April 2016.
  • Employees who received a promotion into a Salary Administration Plan UCC position from any Unified Court System bargaining unit, including one (1) grade promotions or promotions where the resultant salary was above Maximum, in or after April 2016.

Any employee whose current salary and/or increment code is impacted by this review must have their PayServ Job record adjusted effective 03/30/2023 as outlined under Agency Actions.

Note:  Adjustments to employee salary histories due to this review will only be effective 03/30/2023 or later. There will be no retroactive adjustments prior to 03/30/2023 and employees will not receive retroactive pay. Employees who are Terminated, Retired, Deceased, in a Salary Administration Plan other than UCC, or are Active in an agency other than the Unified Court System on 03/30/2023 will not receive an adjustment to their payroll history.

OSC Actions

OSC has created Reason Code EJP (End Judicial Long Pay) to process the salary and/or increment code adjustments due to the reintroduction of the CSEA Longevity Steps. This reason code may be used with Action Codes DTA (Data Change) if the employee is only receiving an adjustment to their increment code and there is no change in salary or PAY (Pay Rate Change) if the employee is receiving an adjustment to annual salary only or annual salary and increment code.

Agency Actions

Agencies must review and recalculate salary histories for any employees potentially impacted by the reintroduction of the CSEA Longevity Steps.

In Administration Pay Period 1L, agencies must submit Job Action Requests via the Automated Interface (AI) or on the Job Action Request screen in PayServ using Action Code DTA or PAY and Reason Code EJP and update the employee’s annual salary and/or increment code to the appropriate salary and/or increment code in effect on 03/30/2023 prior to processing of the April 2023 Increments, Longevity Steps and Salary Increase (collectively “April 2023 Payments”). OSC will review and approve all submitted transactions prior to processing the April 2023 Payments.

Questions

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