APRIL 1st PAYROLL DELAYED
The State Legislature has not, as of 1:30 p.m. today, passed the 2020-21 State budget or a budget extender bill to provide for the continuing operation of State government. CSEA has been advised that the Legislature is meeting today and remain hopeful that it passes, and the Governor signs, the 2020-21 State budget or a budget extender bill. Provided this happens by 5:00 p.m. today, direct deposits will be made on Thursday, April 2nd . However, paper paychecks will not be put in the mail by OSC until a budget or extender bill is in place so paper paychecks will be delayed beyond April 2nd , they are mailed from Albany so delivery times will largely depend on where an employee resides.
CSEA understands that this is of great concern to all of our members, especially with everything else going on right now. Please understand, this is unrelated to current public health emergency. This is purely a budgetary issue that we are somewhat familiar with, as the approval of the budget is seemingly always down to the wire on March 31st. The complication is that the first check date is on the first day of the fiscal year, i.e. April 1st (whereas in the past we’ve had a few days of cushion between the end of the fiscal year on March 31st and the first check date in April).
As more information becomes available or the situation resolves in the Legislature I will update you all through the receiver notice.
SCHOLARSHIP DEADLINES
All CSEA scholarship application deadlines have been extended to June 1, 2020
Statewide Scholarship (Irving Flaumenbaum, Pearl Insurance, and Met Life) deadlines have been extended from April 15 to June 1, 2020.
The Region 5 scholarship deadline has been extended to June 1, 2020.
The Local 334 Michael D. Carraway Scholarship deadline has been extended to June 1, 2020
NYSCOT EXAM
OCA has postponed the Court Officer-Trainee exam until further notice; that is, until it is deemed safe to hold it. There are over 88,000 applicants for this exam.
OCA will be texting applicants about the postponement. The OCA website and e-mail auto-responses will contain the following message:
EXAMINATION POSTPONED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE DUE TO COVID-19 (CORONAVIRUS) PRECAUTIONS: The health of applicants and their families is our first priority. When it is deemed safe to administer the examination, the examination will be re-scheduled and self-scheduling links e-mailed to applicants. Due to the nature of the crisis, we cannot predict the length of time the postponement will remain in effect. We will post the revised dates as soon as they are determined. We will continue to monitor, assess and address the situation keeping applicant safety as our foremost concern.
COPAY REIMBURSEMENT
CSEA Employee Benefit Fund has extended Co-pay reimbursement for 2019 co-pays until June 1st, 2020. If you haven’t already, please submit your reimbursement forms. In these trying times every penny counts, let them put money in your pocket. Should you have any questions call 1-800-323-2732 or go online to www.cseaebf.com
VIRTUAL COURTS
CSEA has been notified, as have some of you working out of the Fifth and Seventh Judicial Districts that “Virtual Courts” are being instituted in some of our locations. Per OCA these “virtual” courts will be up and running statewide on the projected date of April 13th. Courts will be “open for business” to the fullest extent possible. Obviously social distancing rules should remain in effect, should anyone be required to report and find this not to be the case, please contact the Local immediately. At this time, comp-time has only been authorized for the limited staff that will still be required to physically report.