TDD# 1-800-846-5277
STATE OF
DEPARTMENT OF
STATE CIVIL SERVICE
BATON ROUGE,
August 6, 2008
General
Circular No. 1741
To: Heads of State Agencies and
Human Resource Directors
Subject: Explanation of Interpretation of
Optional Pay, Rule 6.16.2 and Instructions on Entering Optional Pay payments into
Issue
Date: August 6, 2008
Civil
Service Rule 6.16.2, Optional Pay Adjustments, refers to awards made to an
individual permanent employee for additional duties as either “…a lump sum
payment or permanent addition to the employee’s base salary.” Civil Service has interpreted lump sum
payments to include temporary payments spread over time. These temporary payments are in essence a
lump sum paid over the course of time in the employee’s regular paycheck,
rather than all at once at the beginning or end of the duties. Duties that are on-going for some period of
time, but are finite are considered to be temporary. These types of additional duties are eligible
for lump sum payments only. The lump sum
may be granted all at one time, or it may be spread out over the course of the
time spent performing the duties.
Due
to the confusion generated by the use of the term temporary in addition to lump
sum, we will use the terms permanent, lump sum-one time, and lump
sum-recurring. We will update the
Optional Pay Questionnaire to reflect this new terminology. Beginning with the September Commission
meeting, all Optional Pay requests that go before the Commission will use this
new terminology as well.
When
entering Optional Pay payments into
Should
you have any further questions about the interpretation of Rule 6.16.2, please
contact
Sincerely,
Anne
S. Soileau
Director