Info Circ 01-p-008 - Addition of New Earnings Codes VLT, VLK, SLK, CTK, and HTK

On July 1, 1993, legislation changed the definition of 'final average salary' for KPERS pension purposes. For employees hired on or after July 1, 1993, 'final average salary' is based on 'salary' as defined by K.S.A. 74-4902 (34) rather than 'compensation'. KPERS has advised Payroll Services that KPERS retirement contributions should not be withheld from lump-sum termination payments for vacation leave, sick leave, compensatory time, and holiday compensatory time for employees hired on or after July 1, 1993, since these payments cannot be counted towards 'final average salary' for these employees.

The SHARP payroll system currently withholds KPERS contributions on all termination payments. If the employee was hired on or after July 1, 1993, KPERS notifies the employing agency that a refund should be processed. The agency then submits a DA-180 to Payroll Services and a manual payroll adjustment to refund the KPERS is processed.

Effective September 3, 2000, the following five new earnings codes will be established in SHARP to refund KPERS contributions from termination payments for employees hired after July 1, 1993:

Code	Description	Check Stub
VLT	Vacation Leave Payout-Termination-No KPERS	VL PAYOUT
VLK	Vacation Leave Payout- No KPERS (Retirements)	VL PAYOUT
SLK	Sick Leave Payout-No KPERS	SL PAYOUT
CTK	Compensatory Time Payout - No KPERS	COMP PAYOUT
HTK	Holiday Compensatory Time Payout - No KPERS	HOL CMP PAY

Agencies are asked to note that SHARP will continue to use the existing earnings codes (VLN, VLP and SLP) when automatically generating the leave payout earnings codes on the employees' time and leave records. The existing earnings codes will continue to be subject to KPERS. Agencies should not change the employees' time and leave records to reflect the new earnings codes. Instead, the agency should wait for KPERS to send the notification that the employee was hired after July 1, 1993. Then, using the new earnings codes, agencies should process a paycheck adjustment to refund the erroneous KPERS contributions. Unless a paycheck has previously been adjusted, agencies will no longer have to submit a DA-180 to Payroll Services to have the refund processed. Please see Attachment A for examples on how the new codes are to be used.

The Division of Accounts and Reports, Payroll Systems Team will add these earnings codes to the SHARP Payroll System. Regent's institutions are responsible for ensuring these earnings codes are available on their individual systems.

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Attachment A