Purpose: 

The purpose of this bulletin is to provide agency instructions for processing the City University of New York (CUNY) 2026 2.00% general salary increases and the retroactive 2025 merit increases for Executive Compensation Plan employees.

Affected Employees: 

Employees in the following titles who meet the eligibility criteria are affected:

Background: 

On May 19, 2025, the CUNY Board of Trustees approved 2026 salary increases of 2.00% and 2025 retroactive performance-based merit increases of .75% to 1.25% for employees in the Executive Compensation Plan.

Effective Dates: 

The 2026 general salary increases and 2025 retroactive merit increases will be processed in Institution Pay Period 10C, paychecks dated 08/20/2026. The increase percentages and effective dates are as follows:

Eligibility Criteria (General Salary Increase):  

All employees meeting the eligibility criteria below on 07/01/2026 may be eligible for the general salary increase:

• Employees must be appointed to an ECP title (see Affected Employees) with an Employee Status of Active for at least one day as of 07/01/2026.
• Employees must have an Employee Status of Active as of 08/05/2026 (the close of the payroll processing period for Institution Pay Period 9C).
• Employees on authorized paid leave on 07/01/2026 will be eligible for the increase according to the established pay cycle.
• Employees on authorized unpaid leave on 07/01/2026 will be eligible for the increase upon return to work.
• Employees are entitled to all applicable increases for the duration of their period on Travia.

Note: ECP employees who have reached or exceeded the maximum salary range for their position will receive the applicable percentage increase, even if this results in a salary above the range.

Eligibility Criteria (Performance-Based Merit Increase):

All employees meeting the eligibility criteria below on the effective date may be eligible for the performance-based merit increase:

• Employees must have an Employee Status of Active as of 08/05/2026 (the close of the payroll processing period for Institution Pay Period 9C).
• Employees must have a completed evaluation to qualify for the performance-based increase.
• If an employee is on an authorized leave of absence at the time of the evaluation exercise but is eligible to be evaluated, they may be evaluated upon their return.
• Employees on Travia leave at the time of payment are eligible, provided a completed evaluation is on file before they leave active service.
• Employees on an authorized paid or unpaid leave of absence are eligible as long as they have a completed evaluation on file upon their return.
• Employees hired into a new or different ECP position after December 31, 2025 are not eligible.

Note: Please refer to the CUNY Memorandum dated 04/01/2026 signed by Hector Batista for more information on the performance-based merit increase eligibility criteria and the process for determining each employee’s salary increase percentage.

Agency Actions:   

Reporting the Rate Increases (General Salary Increase)

To process the general salary increase for eligible employees, the agency must submit the following:

• A Pay Change using the Action/Reason Code of PAY/SAC (Pay Rate Change/Mass Salary Increase) on the Job Action Requests page, using the applicable effective date found in the Effective Dates section, along with the new applicable rate.
• A separate Pay Change request must be submitted for each subsequent row that exists on the employee’s Job Data page using the Action/Reason Code PAY/CSL (Pay Rate Change/Cor Sal) on the Job Action Requests page using the next available sequence number, regardless of status and provided the employee remains in an eligible position.

Reporting the Rate Increases (Performance-Based Merit Increase)

To process the performance-based merit increase for eligible employees, the agency must submit the following:

• A Pay Change using the Action/Reason Code of PAY/SAC (Pay Rate Change/Mass Salary Increase) on the Job Action Requests page, using the applicable effective date found in the Effective Dates section, along with the new applicable rate.
• A separate Pay Change request must be submitted for each subsequent row that exists on the employee’s Job Data page using the Action/Reason Code PAY/CSL (Pay Rate Change/Cor Sal) on the Job Action Requests page using the next available sequence number, regardless of status and provided the employee remains in an eligible position.

Tax Information:    

These funds are taxable income subject to all employment taxes and income taxes, will be included in the employee’s taxable gross and reported on the employee’s Form W-2.

Federal, State, and New York City income tax withholding will be calculated using the Aggregate method. Yonkers income tax withholding will be calculated using the Flat Rate method (1.95975% for Yonkers residents and 0.50% for Yonkers non-residents).

Special Wage Payments for Individuals Who Filed for Retirement Social Security Benefits

Per Internal Revenue Service Publication 957, OSC will be reporting retroactive payments made to individuals who have filed for Social Security benefits to the Social Security Administration (SSA).

As PayServ does not include this information, OSC will be mailing a Request for Special Wage Payment Report to inactive individuals who are 62 or older in the calendar year and to active employees with “RET” selected on the New York Retiree Indicator in Modify a Person who receive the retroactive payment. Recipients of this mailing will be asked to fill out the request and return it to OSC for inclusion on the Special Wage Payment Report to SSA. This report will be submitted to SSA after the close of the 2026 tax year.

It is important that agencies ensure the New York Retiree Indicator is accurate for rehired retirees. 

Deductions:

All deductions for employees whose Payroll Status is Terminated, Retired, or Deceased will be automatically canceled by OSC with the exception of percentage-based dues and deductions marked “No” on the Deduction Codes list published on the OSC website. 

Undeliverable Checks:

When a valid payroll check is undeliverable due to the agency’s inability to locate the employee, the agency should follow the Agency Actions identified in Payroll Bulletin No. 1786 – Non-Negotiated and/or Undeliverable New York State Payroll Checks.

Checks issued to eligible employees who are now deceased should be submitted as a stop payment request with a reason of Exchange in PayServ. The Report of Check Exchange (AC 1476-P), Next of Kin Affidavit (AC 934-P) and original death certificate should be submitted to the Payroll Reversal and Exchange mailbox at the same time as the stop payment request. 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. These forms can be found here: Payroll Forms | Office of the New York State Comptroller

Questions:

Questions regarding eligibility for the 2026 2.00% general salary increases or the retroactive 2025 performance-based merit increases for ECP employees may be directed to the University Manager of Payroll Systems and Operations at CUNY Central Office.

Questions regarding processing transactions for the 2026 2.00% general salary increases or the retroactive 2025 performance-based merit increases for ECP employees may be directed to the Payroll Earnings mailbox.

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

Questions regarding taxes may be directed to the Tax and Compliance mailbox.