Additional compensation is negotiated and paid to an employee whose principal place of employment or official workstation is located in specific counties within New York State.

This compensation is in addition to, not part of, the employee’s basic annual salary and do not affect other provisions of the laws concerning salary determinations.

Part-time (excluding employees of the Unified Court System) and Hourly (excluding Seasonal Hourly – see Seasonal Location Pay section below) employees are not eligible for Location Pay. However, full-time eligible employees on an authorized paid leave of absence at half pay and employees on VRWS continue to receive this compensation at a pro-rated amount.

The applicable earnings codes and criteria are outlined below.

***Location Pay for Monroe County was eliminated on April 1, 1985, but remains payable to those employees who were incumbents and receiving the $200 Monroe County location pay on that date and have remained eligible for the payment in that location.

The following State officers and employees are not eligible for Location Pay:

1. Officers and employees of the Legislature.
2. The Governor, Lt. Governor, Comptroller, Attorney General, and Commissioners and other officers whose salary is set by Section 169 of the Executive Law.
3. Judges and Justices in the Judiciary.
4. Superintendents of Correctional Facilities

Seasonal Location Pay:

Certain PEF, MC, and CSEA Long Term Seasonal Hourly employees may be eligible for a Location Pay lump sum payment if they have worked the required number of hours in the fiscal year; 1560 hours for an 8-hour employee or 1462 for a 7.5 hour employee.

Effective 9/6/2018, per a Consent Award from OER, Long Term Seasonal Hourly employees in the Department of Environmental Conservation and the Office of Parks and Recreation who have received the location lump sum payment for the prior three years who subsequently move to an annual position in an eligible location and who become part-time will still be eligible for location pay.  The location pay will be pro-rated based on the percentage worked by the employee.

Refer to the latest Payroll Bulletins and union contracts for applicable earnings codes, amounts and eligible locations.

Location Pay Exceptions Report:

Agency payroll officers should review the NPAY799 Location Pay Exceptions Control-D Report each pay period to identify and correct employees receiving the incorrect Location Pay amount and/or earnings code.  There are situations where an employee may appear to be ineligible for Location Pay based on their location code on Job Data, but the employee is entitled to Location Pay based on their official workstation. OSC requires a yearly general comment from the agency confirming the eligible location of the employee’s official workstation.

Correcting an Employee’s Record:

If an agency determines an employee is NOT eligible for Location Pay earnings because their record contains incorrect information, the agency must take corrective action.

If the location code on the employee’s regular position is incorrect, agencies must make corrections as follows:

• Executive agency position updates (except SUNY) must be initiated in NYSTEP by the agency.
  • SUNY agency position updates must be requested through the OSC Position Management mailbox.
• UCS agency position updates can be done in PayServ by the agency.   

NOTE: The position location should be corrected either to the effective date of the correct work location or the day after the last effective dated row on the employee’s position, whichever is later. While OSC does not require this record to be corrected retroactively, the position must be corrected going forward.

Location Pay must be discontinued if the employee is reassigned to an area for which Location Pay is not authorized.

Refer to specific contracts for Location Pay effective dates and amounts

Last Updated: 01/16/2026