Department of Civil Service

NY20-30

TO: New York State Agency Health Benefit Administrators
FROM: Employee Benefits Division
SUBJECT: 2021 Productivity Enhancement Program (PEP)
DATE: November 2, 2020

The Productivity Enhancement Program (PEP) for 2021 is available to Executive Branch employees represented by CSEA, UUP, DC-37, Executive Branch Management/Confidential employees, SUNY M/C employees and Legislative and Judicial Branch employees. Employees represented by PEF will not be eligible for PEP in 2021.

The program allows eligible employees to exchange previously accrued annual leave and/or personal leave in return for a biweekly credit that reduces their share of New York State Health Insurance Program (NYSHIP) premium.

For information regarding the PEP eligibility requirements, the calculation of PEP credit and the enrollment period dates, please refer to Attendance and Leave Policy Bulletin 2020-06. In addition to an overview of the program, the memo includes the 2021 PEP Program Description and the 2021 PEP Enrollment Form. Your agency attendance and leave office must first review for eligibility prior to forwarding to the HBA for entry into NYBEAS.

Separately, SUNY Administration and the benefits offices for Legislative and Judicial branch employees will make available the 2021 PEP Program Description and Enrollment form specific to their employees.

PEP PREMIUM CONTRIBUTION CREDIT
The 2021 PEP credit will begin with the first 2021 health insurance premium deduction. Refer to the “Timing of NYBEAS Processing and Paycheck Dates” section of this memo for effective dates of the 2021 PEP credit.

The amount that will be credited toward the biweekly employee share of the health insurance premium is reflected in the following charts and is based upon the employee’s Salary Grade and the number of leave days forfeited. The credit for part-time employees will be prorated based upon their payroll percentage. In no case, will the PEP credit exceed the employee’s biweekly NYSHIP premium due.

Eligible Executive Branch CSEA, DC-37, Management/Confidential employees[1], and Legislative Branch employees

Full-time employees in positions at or equated to Salary Grade 17 and below:

Full-time employees in positions at or equated to Salary Grade 18 through 24 (through Grade 23 for M/C; Legislature): 

[1] M/C employees of SUNY should refer to the 2021 PEP Program Description and Enrollment Form from SUNY Administration for specific PEP eligibility information.

Eligible Unified Court System (UCS) employees
Full-time employees of the Unified Court System at or below Judicial Salary Grade 16:

 
Full-time employees of the Unified Court System at and including Judicial Salary Grade 17 through 23: 

UUP Represented Employees (may only forfeit annual leave)

 
Agencies are responsible for distribution and retention of the enrollment forms and for the coordination between the agency personnel office and the HBA, with respect to certification of accrual adjustment(s) and initiating the PEP credit on NYBEAS.

NYBEAS PROCESSING WINDOW
The NYBEAS PEP Enrollment panel will be open to HBA’s for processing from November 2, 2020 through January 15, 2021.

Video tutorials providing guidance on how to process a PEP Enrollment in NYBEAS can be found in the E-Learning section of HBA Online at https://www.cs.ny.gov/employee-benefits/hba/shared/e-learning/index.cfm.

For questions related to processing the PEP transaction on NYBEAS, contact the HBA Helpline at 518-474-2780. For questions related to PEP eligibility, please contact your agency attendance and leave office, or refer to Attendance and Leave Policy Bulletin 2020-06.

TIMING OF NYBEAS PROCESSING AND PAYCHECK DATES
Since the transaction to enter the PEP credit cannot be keyed until after the certification of the accrual adjustment, coordination with staff handling your agency’s attendance and leave function is key to PEP credit processing. The following charts explain which checks will be impacted when you process the PEP enrollment. Be prepared to answer questions once the employee’s paycheck has been impacted. PEP enrollments processed in NYBEAS after the Processing Cutoff Date below will not be processed in time for the first paycheck in the 2021 Plan Year. Retroactive PEP credits will be applied in the employee’s next paycheck.

2020 Administration Payroll Has 27 Pay Periods
The 2020 Administration payroll has a total of 27 pay periods rather than the typical 26 pay periods.  EBD will systematically process the 2020 PEP cancellations prior to the 2021 enrollment period.  Please see chart below identifying the paycheck in which the last 2020 PEP credit will appear.