May 25, 2021

Second Follow-up to May 2021 Pay Period – R01 Retirement System Transaction for Civil Service and California State University (CSU) Employees

Action Required by Department:  Share the following information with all human resources (HR) and accounting office employees.

Description:  On April 30, 2021, the State Controller's Office (SCO) processed a mass update to apply a R01 transaction for Civil Service and CSU employees. This R01 transaction was used to assign a CalPERS Retirement Designation in Employment History on more than 286,000 records. On May 21, 2021, during monthly payroll validation, it was discovered that the R01 Transaction Code used to update employee records inadvertently carried forward Personnel Action Request (PAR) item 606, Time To Be Paid. This resulted in the inaccurate issuance of payroll for a select population of Civil Service and CSU employees. 

On May 21, 2021 and May 24, 2021, SCO released communication to all departmental HR offices notifying customers of this. SCO is in the process of resolving this in time for payroll with an issue date of June 1, 2021, which will be released on payday, May 28, 2021. 

Population Impact:  Approximately 8,000 Civil Service and CSU employees 

Action Required by Departments: As with most mass updates, there are exceptions that require manual processing (e.g. out-of-sequence, dock, leave of absence, etc.). This work is being handled by SCO.  NO ACTION is required by departments. Please do not attempt to correct. 

What will occur: On May 24, 2021, SCO ran a 505 Transaction Code mass update to resolve the carry forward issue in PAR item 606.  Adjustments to regular pay will have a June 1, 2021, issue date and taxes will aggregate. 

What to Expect: When the 505 Transaction Code mass update process ran, the following payroll results occurred:

Employees who were underpaid were resolved with the issuance of an additional warrant; and

Employees who were overpaid were resolved with the redeposit of the overpayment and issuance of the correct pay. 

Department Next Steps: On May 25, 2021, as an additional payroll validation step, departments and campuses are asked to review the under and overpayments issued to ensure accuracy for each individual impacted employee. If a department identifies any inaccuracies related to this subject, they are to contact the Statewide Customer Contact Center (916) 372-7200 immediately. This will allow SCO the ability to respond and resolve accordingly. 

As stated above, SCO will continue to validate payroll results and make adjustments as needed. 

Previous Communications on this Subject:

April 29, 2021, Personnel Letter #21-009: Employment History Mass Update – CalPERS PEPRA Account Codes and CalPERS Enrollment Level Indicator 

April 29, 2021, Payroll Letter #21-004: Implementation of Maximum Compensation Limits For CalPERS Members

May 21, 2021, Broadcast Email - May 2021 Pay Period - R01 Retirement System Transaction for Civil Service and California State University (CSU) Employees

May 24, 2021, Broadcast Email – Follow-up to May 2021 Pay Period - R01 Retirement System Transaction for Civil Service and California State University (CSU) Employees 

Contacts: 

Statewide Customer Contact Center (916) 372-7200  

HR Suggestions Email (All HR Staff) PPSDHRSuggestions@sco.ca.gov 

CS Escalation Email (HR Supervisors and Managers)  PPSDOps@sco.ca.gov 

Cal Employee Connect Email connecthelp@sco.ca.gov 

Cal Employee Connect Feedback Email connectfeedback@sco.ca.gov  

SCO Key Initiatives:  

Cal Employee Connect Project

California State Payroll System Project