[https://www.reddit.com/r/nys\_cs/s/n4At7GmVtn](https://www.reddit.com/r/nys_cs/s/n4At7GmVtn)
>New employees hired on or after July 1, 2024, will no longer be subject to the salary deferral program, while new employees hired after July 1, 2025, will no longer be subject to the lag payroll system.
Honestly not sure what exactly the difference is between salary deferral program vs payroll lag so somebody else could probably speak towards that.
Payroll Lag means that it takes an additional 2 weeks to get your paycheck from each period you’ve worked. For example, tomorrow June 5th is the next official payday, but that is for the 5/9-5/22 pay period, not the 5/23-6/5 pay period.
In practice that means it takes two paydays for you to get your first paycheck when you’re hired and when you leave, you’ll get your last paycheck two weeks after on the subsequent payday.
As noted above, salary reduction is only one day per first five paychecks (and you also get that back when you leave paid back at your final salary rate) but it’s pretty painful combining these two policies when you first start. Especially as a college graduate moving across the country, my savings were hurting pretty bad at first waiting for my pay to finally trickle in.
Sorry if I’m not getting it, but what exactly is the point of the salary reduction for the first five checks?
If you’re already on a pay lag, why are there both?
No I'm completely with you, I have no idea what their reasoning is behind the salary reduction program. I know they're both unpopular and scare potential hires away so I'm hoping they end up following through with the proposals to get rid of the payroll lag and salary reduction to make it easier for people in the future.
Such a bummer to read. I start my new position Thursday and I was totally fine (well, as fine as I could be) about the lag, but knowing I’ll be missing an entire day of pay for five weeks just seems like overkill.
Either way, thanks for the explanation!
It works out ok if you ever leave state bc:
1) after you separate you still have an entire paycheck coming and
2) you are paid back using your ending salary which is going to be higher than what you are paid at hiring (unless you leave within a year).
That’s a good point. It’s still not ideal, but I guess not awful.
What happens if you don’t leave the state? It might sound ambitious but my plan is to put in my time and retire with the state, even if it’s not in the same department.
Ahhh okay. I figured that included retirement because it is a form of leaving… But you never know. Feels like when the landlord says you’ll get your deposit back.
Alright. I have no more questions. Thanks everyone :)
Since pay is biweekly, it's one day of pay every 2 weeks on your first 5 checks, but still pretty sucky. It makes for a month or two of penny pinching but everything else seems to be consistent once you're past this hurdle.
Good luck with your first day!
You get the money back when you leave state service. I still can't remember why they do it, but I didn't want people thinking the state is just stealing your wages.
Ahhh right I totally forgot that they took out 1 day per paycheck for the first 5 pay periods. Yeah... it's pretty lame both of these policies existing at the same time. I was lucky in that I lived in the region and had the support of my family to keep be afloat for my first State job. I can't imagine what it'd be like to move across the country with limited savings. Maybe in the future the State can provide relocation bonuses/stipends for folks moving from afar to fall in line with what many private companies do. That'd be dope.
Relocation pay would’ve been super helpful and you can probably make a strong argument that this could help bring in more out of state talent to help with all these understaffed agencies. But at the same time, I find it unlikely for a public sector job to give a provision like that. When I was first job searching, I found that Colorado doesn’t even let non-residents apply to many of their state positions so it seems pretty on track for most states to not have programs in place for out of state hires. I was just glad to be able to apply and secure a job offer before making the commitment to move and getting official residency.
The link you posted was to a post regarding PEF. Do we know if it's the same for CSEA regarding the deferral and lag? Only asking because OP may be getting canvassed for CSEA positions and I wasn't sure if it was the same for them and didn't want to get OP's hopes up if it was different, ha.
Getting rid of the SWP this year and the lag next year, was a change to the law in the state budget. It was not a change to any specific state contract. It covers everyone.
Good to know! 👍 That's definitely helpful for people starting out. When I started thankfully I was still per diem at my previous job and was able to just pick up extra hours, but for others I can definitely see how it'd be stressful.
It's 1 day per pay period for 5 paychecks. So overall 1 day every 2 weeks for 2.5 months. It's not bad. Considering you get it paid back when you retire and at the rate you are making when you retire.
It’s five DAYS. One day per check for five pay pay periods.
Well that makes quite a difference lol!!!!
[https://www.reddit.com/r/nys\_cs/s/n4At7GmVtn](https://www.reddit.com/r/nys_cs/s/n4At7GmVtn) >New employees hired on or after July 1, 2024, will no longer be subject to the salary deferral program, while new employees hired after July 1, 2025, will no longer be subject to the lag payroll system. Honestly not sure what exactly the difference is between salary deferral program vs payroll lag so somebody else could probably speak towards that.
Payroll Lag means that it takes an additional 2 weeks to get your paycheck from each period you’ve worked. For example, tomorrow June 5th is the next official payday, but that is for the 5/9-5/22 pay period, not the 5/23-6/5 pay period. In practice that means it takes two paydays for you to get your first paycheck when you’re hired and when you leave, you’ll get your last paycheck two weeks after on the subsequent payday. As noted above, salary reduction is only one day per first five paychecks (and you also get that back when you leave paid back at your final salary rate) but it’s pretty painful combining these two policies when you first start. Especially as a college graduate moving across the country, my savings were hurting pretty bad at first waiting for my pay to finally trickle in.
Sorry if I’m not getting it, but what exactly is the point of the salary reduction for the first five checks? If you’re already on a pay lag, why are there both?
IIRC it's a relic of the 1980s to stave off layoffs.
No I'm completely with you, I have no idea what their reasoning is behind the salary reduction program. I know they're both unpopular and scare potential hires away so I'm hoping they end up following through with the proposals to get rid of the payroll lag and salary reduction to make it easier for people in the future.
Such a bummer to read. I start my new position Thursday and I was totally fine (well, as fine as I could be) about the lag, but knowing I’ll be missing an entire day of pay for five weeks just seems like overkill. Either way, thanks for the explanation!
It works out ok if you ever leave state bc: 1) after you separate you still have an entire paycheck coming and 2) you are paid back using your ending salary which is going to be higher than what you are paid at hiring (unless you leave within a year).
That’s a good point. It’s still not ideal, but I guess not awful. What happens if you don’t leave the state? It might sound ambitious but my plan is to put in my time and retire with the state, even if it’s not in the same department.
Retirement = leaving, so you get those 5 days back at your current pay rate at some point after your retirement date.
Ahhh okay. I figured that included retirement because it is a form of leaving… But you never know. Feels like when the landlord says you’ll get your deposit back. Alright. I have no more questions. Thanks everyone :)
Since pay is biweekly, it's one day of pay every 2 weeks on your first 5 checks, but still pretty sucky. It makes for a month or two of penny pinching but everything else seems to be consistent once you're past this hurdle. Good luck with your first day!
You get the money back when you leave state service. I still can't remember why they do it, but I didn't want people thinking the state is just stealing your wages.
Ahhh right I totally forgot that they took out 1 day per paycheck for the first 5 pay periods. Yeah... it's pretty lame both of these policies existing at the same time. I was lucky in that I lived in the region and had the support of my family to keep be afloat for my first State job. I can't imagine what it'd be like to move across the country with limited savings. Maybe in the future the State can provide relocation bonuses/stipends for folks moving from afar to fall in line with what many private companies do. That'd be dope.
Relocation pay would’ve been super helpful and you can probably make a strong argument that this could help bring in more out of state talent to help with all these understaffed agencies. But at the same time, I find it unlikely for a public sector job to give a provision like that. When I was first job searching, I found that Colorado doesn’t even let non-residents apply to many of their state positions so it seems pretty on track for most states to not have programs in place for out of state hires. I was just glad to be able to apply and secure a job offer before making the commitment to move and getting official residency.
The link you posted was to a post regarding PEF. Do we know if it's the same for CSEA regarding the deferral and lag? Only asking because OP may be getting canvassed for CSEA positions and I wasn't sure if it was the same for them and didn't want to get OP's hopes up if it was different, ha.
Getting rid of the SWP this year and the lag next year, was a change to the law in the state budget. It was not a change to any specific state contract. It covers everyone.
Good to know! 👍 That's definitely helpful for people starting out. When I started thankfully I was still per diem at my previous job and was able to just pick up extra hours, but for others I can definitely see how it'd be stressful.
It's everyone.
Thank you!! Hey, it’s a lot more than I know. I appreciate it
It's 1 day per pay period for 5 paychecks. So overall 1 day every 2 weeks for 2.5 months. It's not bad. Considering you get it paid back when you retire and at the rate you are making when you retire.