This Bulletin Supersedes Payroll Bulletin No. 2068

Purpose:

The purpose of this bulletin is to inform agencies of the new Additional Pay Earnings Codes, automatic processing for the bi-weekly Security Supervisors Hazardous Duty Pay, and to provide instructions for payments not processed automatically for employees represented by Council 82 Security Supervisors Unit.

Affected Employees:

Employees in the Security Supervisors Unit (SSPU BU61 and BU91) who meet the eligibility criteria are affected. 

Background:

Chapter 359 of the Laws of 2022, which implemented the 2016-2023 Agreement between the State of New York and the NYS Law Enforcement Officers’ Union, District Council 82 (Council 82) for interest arbitration eligible members (BU61) and interest arbitration ineligible members (BU91) of the Security Supervisors Unit (SSPU), provides for the new bi-weekly Security Supervisors Unit Hazardous Duty Pay payment for employees who have at least one year of service credit in either BU61 or BU91.

In addition, per the Memorandum of Understanding between the State of New York and Council 82 covering the period 2023-2026, as of 06/10/2024 (the 2023-2026 contract ratification date), employees are no longer required to complete one year of service credit in either BU61 or BU91 to receive this payment. 

Effective Dates:

The new Hazardous Duty Pay will be paid in paychecks dated 11/09/2022 (Administration Pay Period 15L) and 11/17/2022 (Institution Pay Period 15L) using the Effective Dates and Payment Amounts listed below:

Eligibility Criteria:

Prior to 06/10/2024, employees in Bargaining Unit 61 or Bargaining Unit 91 who, after completing one year of cumulative service in either bargaining unit, have a Payroll Status of Active, Leave With Pay, or Leave of Absence with a Reason code of WCL, WDL, WPS or if the Action/Reason Code is LOA/MLL (Leave of Absence/Military), LOA/MLS (Leave of Absence/Mil Stip) or LOA/MTS (Leave of Absence/Military Training) are eligible to receive the new Hazardous Duty Pay.

On or after 06/10/2024, employees in Bargaining Unit 61 or Bargaining Unit 91 are no longer required to complete one year of service credit in either bargaining unit to receive this payment.

• Employees who transfer into a Council 82 position on or after 06/10/2024 can receive Hazardous Duty Pay upon transfer.
• Employees who transfer into a Council 82 position after 06/10/2023 but before 06/10/2024 can receive Hazardous Duty Pay effective 06/10/2024.

Employees Terminated via Discipline Process  

Employees terminated from employment pursuant to a disciplinary termination are ineligible to receive payment of retroactive monies as a result of processing the April 2016-2022 Salary Increases and October 2021 Increase to 25 Year Longevity Pay.  Agencies must review the records of employees who occupied a position in BU 61 or BU 91 during the retroactive period and were subsequently terminated to determine if the termination was the result of a disciplinary process and provide OSC with a list (Excel) of affected employees and include the deptid, emplid, record, bargaining unit, position number, and effective date of termination and Action/Reason of termination. Agency listings of employees ineligible to receive retroactive pay must be received by OSC on or before 10/24/2022 (Administration) and 10/31/2022 (Institution). 

OSC Actions:

The Office of the State Comptroller (OSC) has created the following new Additional Pay Codes to be used to process the payments:

Bargaining Unit 61 (Arbitration Eligible)

Bargaining Unit 91 (Non-Arbitration Eligible)

OSC will automatically insert rows on the Additional Pay page with the effective dates and amounts listed in the chart above for April 2019, April 2020, April 2021 and October 2021 for all employees in BU61 and BU91 who meet the eligibility criteria.

Bargaining Unit 61 (Arbitration Eligible)

Bargaining Unit 91 (Non-Arbitration Eligible)

OSC will automatically update any eligible subsequent rows.

Automatic Retroactive Processing

OSC will automatically calculate retroactive adjustments for Time Entry earnings that are calculated by the system and include Hazardous Duty Pay (Earnings Codes 61H and 91H) such as OT for Annual 2080 (Earnings Code OCS). 

If an employee receives a retroactive payment and has been paid by multiple agencies in the same Employee Record Number since the effective date of the payment, all retroactive adjustments will be paid in the most current agency within that record number. If an employee has been paid in multiple record numbers, each record number will be evaluated separately, and retroactive payments will be processed in the record number in which the payment occurred.

Agency Actions:

Beginning in Pay Period 16L, agencies must submit transactions for employees who were not eligible at the time of automatic processing but subsequently become eligible including employees who are no longer subject to the one year service credit requirement.

Submitting Payment

To make the bi-weekly Hazardous Duty Pay payments to eligible employees who were not systematically processed, agencies must submit the following information on the Additional Pay page using the appropriate Earnings Code:

Bargaining Unit 61 (Arbitration Eligible)

Bargaining Unit 91 (Non-Arbitration Eligible)

Overtime Calculation Information:

Hazardous Duty Pay must be included in the calculation of overtime compensation (refer to the Online Payroll Manual accessed from the PayServ Bulletin Board – Payroll Manual > Earnings Manual > Time Entry Payments > Overtime Compensation).

If an employee is appointed to an ineligible position effective after receiving Hazardous Duty Pay, the payment cannot be included in the compensation calculation of any overtime earned after the date of appointment. Therefore, agencies must insert a row on the Additional Pay page at the Effective Date level of Earnings Codes 61H or 91H (as appropriate) and enter the following information:

Agency Actions - Retroactive Processing

Reporting Retroactive Adjustments

Time Entry earnings codes that are submitted with an amount will not be adjusted automatically. Therefore, beginning in Pay Period 15L, agencies must report the adjustment amount for earnings codes such as OT Override (Earnings Code OTO).

Correcting an Automatic Retroactive Adjustment

When certain conditions exist in an employee’s record, the automatic retroactive adjustment may be incorrect. Therefore, the agency is responsible for identifying employees who meet the following conditions and, if necessary, submitting the necessary adjustment:

• If an employee has a check returned or exchanged on an AC-230 for dates on or after the effective date of the payment, the payroll system does not consider the AC-230 when calculating the automatic retroactive adjustment.
• Adjustments for earnings that are calculated automatically, such as OT for Annuals 2080 (Earnings Code OCS), will be calculated incorrectly if the dates previously reported as a single entry on the Time Entry page overlap the effective date of the payment. The system will calculate an adjustment for all earnings reported in a single entry based on the salary in effect on the Earnings End Date.
• For employees who had a change reported on the Job Data page since the effective date of the payment and the action resulted in an overpayment of earnings, the automatic negative retroactive adjustment may not have been processed because the overpayment was either not recoverable or was recovered using an overpayment earnings code or an AC-230. In this case, the negative retroactive adjustment may be re-generated when the payment is processed. OSC will turn off (not process) the automatic negative adjustment for these employees since in most cases these overpayments were either not recoverable or recovered using another method.

If an overpayment of earnings is identified after the automatic payment is processed but before the paycheck is received by the employee, the employee must be notified of the overpayment and the adjustment that will be reported in a subsequent pay period.

Submitting an Adjustment

When an adjustment is needed for COVID-19 related overtime such as Covid-19 OT Override (Earnings Code CVO), Earnings Code ARC (Adjust Retro Raise for C19 OT) must be used to process the adjustment. When an adjustment is needed for non-COVID-19 related overtime or recall such as OT Override (Earnings Code OTO), Earnings Code ARO (Adj Retro Raise for OT and RCL) must be used to process the adjustment. Please refer to Payroll Bulletin 1893 – Reporting Adjustments to Overtime for more information. Agencies must continue to use Earnings Code AJR (Adjust Raise) for all other override Time Entry Earnings Codes requiring a manual adjustment that are a result of a retro salary increase.

To process a retroactive adjustment or correct an automatic retroactive adjustment, agencies must submit the following information on the Time Entry page or the Time Entry Interface (NPAY502) using the Earnings Code AJR, ARC or ARO:

Control-D Report Available After Processing:

After the automatic processing of the Security Services Hazardous Duty Pay is completed, the following Control-D report will be available for agency use:

NHRP703 Mass Salary Additional Pay Report

This report identifies all employees receiving the automatic BU61 Hazardous Duty Pay (Earnings Code 61H) or BU91 Hazardous Duty Pay (Earnings Code 91H). Fields on this report include EmplID, Employee Record Number, Employee Name, Earn Code, Grade, Salary Plan, Bargaining Unit, and Additional Pay Amount.

General Deductions:

All general 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 the following:

Tax Information:

These monies 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.

The adjustments (Earnings Codes AJR, ARC, and ARO) and retroactive payments (Earnings Codes RXX) are supplemental taxable income and will be included in the employee’s taxable gross subject to all employment and income taxes.

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 retro 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 the New York Retiree Indicator checked 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 2022 tax year. It is important that agencies ensure the New York Retiree Indicator box is checked for rehired retirees. Please see Payroll Bulletin No. 1728 – New York Retiree Indicator for further details on the New York Retiree Indicator box.

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.  A Next of Kin Affidavit (Form AC 934-P), original death certificate and a Report of Check Exchange (Form AC 1476-P) 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.

Payroll Register and Employee’s Paycheck/Advice:

All retroactive adjustments will be displayed on the Payroll Register using the appropriate Earnings Code and the amount paid and will be displayed on the employee’s paycheck stub or direct deposit advice using the appropriate Earnings Description and the amount paid unless the number of earnings codes exceeds 13. Agencies should utilize Locked Query LQ_PCD_PAYCHECK_EARNINGS_BY_ID to identify a complete list of regular earnings and retroactive adjustments if there are more than 13 earnings codes.

Questions:

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

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