Finance

Earnings Statement Redesign of Leave Sections

We revised PS Form 1223-B, Earnings Statement (known as PayStub), to provide additional information on the leave data. We intend for the changes to:

n Improve communication about earned annual leave (AL) balance.

n Better align the information on the paystub or paycheck with the leave information that is already available to employees using ePayroll.

n Enable employees to better plan for the use of leave or to calculate Terminal Leave (the payment to employee for earned AL when separating or retiring).

At the beginning of every leave year (LY), full- and part-time regular employees are advanced their annual leave hours for the entire year. These hours become earned as employees continue to work through the end of the leave year.

The leave year starts at the first full pay period (PP) of the year. This means that the first and last work day of the pay period is in the new calendar year. For 2017, this is pay period 2.

Leave data on the pay stub represents hours, unless you are a rural carrier. Annual leave and sick leave are expressed as days for rural employees.

Here is a comparison of old and revised Leave sections of PS Form 1223-B, Earnings Statement, as of pay period 5-2017.

 

 

Old

ANNUAL LEAVE

FROM PREV YR

104.28

EARNED

THIS YEAR

32.00

BAL

136.28

USED THIS

YR

62.50

PP

8.00

BALANCE

249.78

SICK LEAVE

FROM PREV YR

502.61

EARNED THIS YR

16.00

USED THIS

YR

8.00

PP

8.00

BALANCE

510.61

LEAVE WITHOUT PAY

THIS PP

0.00

CUMMULATIVE

24.00

 

Revised

ANNUAL LEAVE (AL) CAT: 8.00

AL PRIOR YR BAL

104.28

+ AL EARNED YTD

32.00

+ AL HOL EARNED YTD

0.00

- AL USED YTD

62.50

= EARNED AL BAL

73.78

+ AL ADVANCED

176.00

= AVAIL AL BAL

249.78

AL USED THIS PP

8.00

SICK LEAVE (SL) CAT: 4.00

SL PRIOR YR BAL

502.61

+ SL EARNED YTD

16.00

- SL USED YTD

8.00

= CURRENT SL BAL

510.61

SL USED THIS PP

8.00

LEAVE WITHOUT PAY (LWOP)

PAY PERIOD LWOP

0.00

PP01 TO CURRENT PP

24.00

 

 

The “Old” and “Revised” tables in this article show the paystub of an employee who has annual leave, category 8. Eight hours are earned for each working pay period:

 

Type of Leave

Hours

Annual leave carried over from 2016

104.28

+ Annual leave earned from pay period 2 to pay period 5 (4 periods x 8 hours = 32)

+32.00

+ Holiday hours worked. Exchanged for annual leave in 2017

+0.00

- 62.50 hours of annual leave used in the last four pay periods

- 62.50

= Earned annual leave balance

73.78

Earned annual leave balance from previous table

73.78

+ Advanced annual leave (22 pay periods x 8 hours = 176.00)

+176.00

= Available annual leave balance

249.78

For sick leave, category 4, four hours are earned for each working pay period:

 

Type of Leave

Hours

Sick leave carried over from 2016

502.61

+ Sick leave earned (YTD) from pay period 2 to pay period 5 (4 periods x 4 hours = 16)

+16.00

- Sick leave hours used (YTD) from pay period 2 to pay period 5

-8.00

= Current sick leave balance

510.61

The individual field names are prefixed with +, -, and = symbols to better explain how the annual leave balances are calculated.

Other leave balances (e.g. advanced sick leave, donated leave, and military leave) continue to be displayed as a single line message at the bottom right of the earnings statement (e.g. DONATED LV BAL = 16.00 hours).

If you have any questions or problems with how you have been paid or with the information that is on your earnings statement, talk to your immediate supervisor or manager. If you need further assistance, call the Accounting Help Desk at 866-974-2733 (7:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m., Monday – Friday, CST) or send an email to helpdeskaccounting-st.louis@usps.gov.

You are encouraged to view your online earnings statements. Use your USPS® Employee Identification Number and Password to log into the ePayroll App via LiteBlue (www.liteblue.gov).

The ePayroll option provides many advantages over the hard copy earnings statement:

n Your online statements will be available as soon as your pay record has been processed; you don’t have to wait for the hard copy to arrive by mail.

n Your online statements are available for the past 40 pay periods.

n Your online statements provide much greater detail about withholdings, benefit deductions, leave balances, and adjustments. This is an improvement from what was provided on the limited space of the traditional hard copy earnings statement.

n ePayroll provides a guide to understanding your earnings statement as well as answers to frequently asked questions.