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Pay Statement Explained

Pay statements provide valuable details about accrued vacation and sick leave, earnings, withholdings, and deductions. Click on a section below to learn what entries on your pay statement mean.









AREA 1
Pay Period
Pay period is the period covered by the payment. Most employees are paid by the Payroll Management System (PMS) every two weeks. Each bi-weekly pay period begins on a Sunday, runs two weeks, and ends on a Saturday.

Most employees work 10 days during the two-week pay period. Consequently, there are ten work days and fourteen calendar days in each bi-weekly pay period.

The pay period shown on your pay statement indicates the dates for which you are being paid for your regular hours worked. PMS calculates the payroll one week prior to pay day, before the actual time you worked during the second week of the pay period is reported.

Pay Date
Pay date is the date your check is issued or the date your direct deposit is credited to your bank account. For most employees pay day is every other Friday.

If you are paid an annual salary, the pay you receive on Friday reflects days worked up to and including the Saturday before payday. This constitutes a one-week pay lag. You can see an example of how the lag works on our Web site's pay calendar.

If you are paid on an hourly or per diem basis, your pay reflects days worked up to and including two Saturdays before pay day, constituting a two-week lag.

Payroll Number, Work Unit, Check and Distribution Numbers
The payroll number identifies your agency.

Work unit is determined by your agency to designate work sites for timekeeping purposes.

The check number is the City's payment number. If a "Z" precedes the number, it means your pay is deposited directly to your bank account.

Distribution numbers designate pay distribution sites agencies use.


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AREA 2
Pension Number
Your pension number is shown if you are a member of one of New York City's pension systems. If you are not a member of a pension system, it should be blank. Contact your Benefits Office if you think there is a discrepancy.

Electronic Fund Transfer Information
Your bank's ABA number, an identifying number used for direct deposit of net pay, is displayed here. It matches the number on the left at the bottom of your personal checks.

JSN
JSN identifies your job sequence number. If you have one job in your agency, your JSN is 1. The JSN is 1 for most employees.

Federal MS/Exempt and State MS/Exempt
Your withholding status including marital status, applicable exemptions, and withholding allowances for federal and state tax withholding purposes are shown here. This reflects information you submitted on the W-4 IRS and IT-2104 state and local Withholding Allowance Certificates.

Marriage status is indicated as follows:

  • A is single
  • B is married
  • C is unspecified
Reference and CD Number
Reference number is an employee identification number.

CD, or check digit, is a one-digit code to help PMS double check against errors.

Employee Name
Your name as it appears in PMS is shown here. If there are any spelling errors, or if your name has changed, contact your Personnel Office.


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AREA 3
Total Earnings This Period and Year to Date
Total Earnings This Period includes all earnings in this pay period. Year to Date is based on the calendar year beginning with the first pay period in January.

Social Security; Medicare; Federal, State, and City Tax
These are the amounts withheld as required by federal, state, and local laws and depend upon your earnings, marital status, and number of withholding allowances.

City Waiver
The City Waiver is an additional withholding for non-residents subject to the requirements of Section 1127 of The New York City Charter.

Total Deductions
Total deductions represent the sum of your taxes and all other deductions, such as health insurance, union dues, pension contributions, and pre-tax benefit programs.

Net Pay
Your net pay is the difference between this period's total earnings and this period's total deductions.


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AREA 4
Description, Units/Hour, Amount Earned Prior Period
This section specifies the hours worked and amount earned prior to the period printed under Pay Period at the top of your "stub."

Leave Balance
Leave Balance displays the date through which your leave balances are shown. The type of leave and balances in hours and minutes are also shown here.

The use of leave balances is considered an exception and is recorded on a two-week lag. The Leave Balance As Of date reflects the two-week lag.

Leave accruals are processed at the end of the first full week of the next month for City annual employees. They appear on pay statements as follows:

Leave Accrual Month Shown on Pay Statement
January 2009 February 20, 2009
February 2009 March 20, 2009
March 2009 May 1, 2009
April 2009 May 29, 2009
May 2009 June 26, 2009
June 2009 July 24, 2009
July 2009 August 21, 2009
August 2009 October 2, 2009
September 2009 October 30, 2009
October 2009 November 27, 2009
November 2009 December 25, 2009
December 2009 January 22, 2010



Other Deductions
Other itemized deductions specifies the following:
  • The reason for the deductions
  • The amounts deducted
  • The goal amounts if applicable
  • The number of installments remaining

Examples of deductions that might appear on your pay statement include:

  • Union dues
  • Pension plan contributions and loan repayments
  • Health insurance rider premiums
  • TransitBenefit Program contributions
  • Family court payments

There is room for eight deductions on most pay statements. If you have more than eight deductions, seven will be detailed and the remainder will be combined in the last entry noted as "Other." If you are not sure what your "Other" deductions are, contact your Payroll Office.


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See the Pay FAQ 
Spotlight

Check Replacement Charge
Effective Wednesday, 7/1/2009, there will be a $55 replacement check fee charged for each replacement check issued by the NYC Office of Payroll Administration.

Uniformed LoDI FICA Refunds 1991-1992
The Internal Revenue Service has yet to resolve all their issues for tax years 1991 and 1992.

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