Your Money continuedDOE's New Differential Application Process
The DOE’s Salary Unit, now called the Office of Salary Services (OSS), uses a new online salary differential application process for all teachers, including secretaries.
Applications, as well as eligibility requirements, can be accessed at the OSS website or, directly through the Payroll Portal.
You must have a DOE email address to access the online application.
Once the online application is completed, the application must be printed. A tracking number is assigned to the application. Transcripts still must be submitted to the DOE.
riginal transcripts along with the application are to be submitted to 65 Court Street, Room 102, Brooklyn, New York 11201. Members who hand-deliver their application will get a receipt. It is strongly suggested that if members can not hand-deliver their applications they should send them return receipt.
Members will electronically receive a Certificate of Salary Status when the differential is processed.
With this new online process members no longer need to resubmit their transcript each time they apply for another differential. They only need to submit original transcripts for the additional credits they earned to obtain the differential for which they are applying.
Teacher Salary Schedule (Effective 5/19/08)
Problems with Your Paycheck?
Delays in getting paid, errors in the payment amount and other paycheck problems sometimes cause new teachers headaches, especially when bills for housing, transportation and courses are piling up.
The UFT can help you cut through the red tape and resolve paycheck problems with the DOE.
It should take the DOE one pay period (two weeks) to get a newly hired teacher on the payroll.
Delays are less common today, since the UFT lobbied successfully for a law that requires the DOE to pay interest on late payments. Here’s what to do if problems occur:
No paycheck. First, be sure you have a DOE file number; you cannot be paid without one.
- If you do not have a file number, see your payroll secretary, and alert your UFT chapter leader.
- If you need an emergency check to tide you over until your regular check arrives, see your payroll secretary and chapter leader. An emergency paycheck does not include prior service or differentials. It takes some time for the DOE to review and approve a new teacher’s application for differentials or salary credit for prior service.
- As long as you have applied within six months of being appointed and are approved, you will receive the extra pay you are owed retroactively to your date of appointment.
- If you are not paid by the first payday after 30 days following your application, the DOE must pay you 6 percent interest.
- Consult your chapter leader or a salary rep at your UFT borough office if you do not hear from the DOE or receive the added pay after two or three months.
Other errors. If you think you are not being paid the correct amount, see your school payroll secretary and your chapter leader. For further help, call your UFT borough office and ask to speak to a salary representative.
Direct Deposit
Teachers can have their paychecks deposited directly into their personal savings or checking account through the department’s Electronic Fund Transfer Program. You can enroll between September and April. It takes two payroll periods after enrollment for direct deposit to begin. On paydays you will receive a payroll stub indicating the amount of the deposit.
Teachers can enroll online. You can also download the form and submit it directly to the department’s Payroll Division, ETP Unit, 65 Court Street, Room 1003, Brooklyn, NY 11201.
Note: As of the 2007-2008 school year the Department required all new hires to use direct deposit but they have not implemented it as of this printing.
Your Financial Future
Your Pension (TRS)
With pension benefits eroding nationwide, your pension becomes more valuable every day. By enrolling in the pension system now — with a simple application — you will:
- Build a pension package that could become your largest financial asset down the line.
- Gain two key protections against the unexpected while you’re working:
- A death benefit to protect your beneficiaries.
- A special pension in case you need to retire due to a disability.
As a certified, appointed teacher, you are automatically a member of the Teachers’ Retirement System (TRS) and as of 2008 all new teachers can retire at age 55, with 27 years of service. - You will contribute 4.85 percent of your salary toward your pension through payroll deductions for your first 10 years of credited service, and 1.85 percent for the next 17 years.
- Deductions usually begin within two months of your first paycheck.
- These contributions lower your taxable income.
- Check your pay stub for a “TRS 414H” deduction.
Steps to Take Now
1. Delaying enrollment may affect benefits for you or your beneficiaries. You must include proof of your date of birth when you file the above forms. Shortly after your pension deductions start, you will receive a welcome kit of materials from TRS, which includes an enrollment form. You must complete this enrollment form and a Designation of Beneficiary form and return them to TRS.
2. Call TRS at 1-888-8NYCTRS or your UFT borough office if you do not receive this kit within three months.
3. In a June 2009 agreement between the UFT and the Department of Education, we agreed to support legislation in Albany that may change pension benefits for newly hired teachers. In the agreement, the UFT was able to preserve the hard-fought age 55 retirement pension benefits that current members have for all new employees. However, there are proposed changes in contribution rates and vesting rights for members hired after the proposed legislation is enacted into law. New members should check the UFT Web site www.uft.org and New York Teacher for updates on any legislative changes to our pensions.
Note: If you previously were a member of another New York State public pension system, you may be eligible to purchase or transfer credit for your prior service when you become a member of TRS. Call a pension consultant in your UFT borough office for help.
Your Tax-Deferred Annuity (TDA)
Another smart move toward a secure retirement is participating in the voluntary tax-deferred annuity (TDA) program. This is a supplemental retirement plan that enables you to invest money for your future on a tax-deferred basis through automatic payroll deductions.
- Income taxes are deferred on contributions and earnings until they are withdrawn.
- You have six investment choices: a guaranteed fixed investment and five variable funds.
- When you retire you can withdraw all or part of these funds or turn them into an annuity.
- The application is included in your TRS welcome kit. Included as well is a separate Designation of Beneficiary form for the TDA which you must file.
Learn More About Your Pension
To keep you up-to-date on pension matters, the UFT offers an array of services throughout your teaching career:
- Frequent articles in the New York Teacher.
- PensioNews, our pension newsletter, including a special start-of-school issue for new teachers that usually is distributed at the new teacher orientation meeting. Recent issues of PensioNews, including the one for new teachers, are available online.
- Speakers for chapter meetings or faculty conferences.
- Pension consultants in each borough office available for telephone questions or for personal interviews by appointment
- Special start-of-school boroughwide meetings.
- Pension clinics.
- Three elected teacher-members on the Teachers’ Retirement Board to represent your interests.
Next page: Some Essential Things to Know