How to Complete the NYC DOE Per Session Employment Form (OP-175)

The NYC DOE per session Form OP-175 is the application you complete before starting any paid work outside your regular school hours — tutoring, coaching, curriculum writing, or any other assignment that falls under Chancellor’s Regulation C-175. You submit it electronically through the DOE Payroll Portal at payrollportal.nycboe.net, your principal or program supervisor approves it, and only then can you begin logging hours. Every assignment within the per session year, which runs July 1 through June 30, needs its own approved OP-175 on file.¹

Before You Fill Out the Form

Three things need to be in place first.

The position has to be officially posted. C-175 requires every per session activity to be advertised at least 20 school days before the work begins, with a description of the job, qualifications, selection criteria, hours, and schedule.² If you were tapped for an assignment that was never posted, the application won’t survive approval.

You need to be in an eligible pedagogical title. Teachers, school counselors, secretaries, paraprofessionals, social workers, psychologists, and school administrators can all qualify depending on the position. The work has to fall outside your regular hours, and it cannot duplicate what you already do in your primary role.²

You need the activity code for the specific assignment. Your hiring supervisor provides this. Don’t guess, and don’t reuse a code from a previous year, because codes change and an incorrect entry will throw errors during payroll setup.

Completing the OP-175 Section by Section

The current form is a PDF available on the NYC Public Schools website and through the employee Payroll Portal. Your school’s payroll secretary should also have copies. The full title, “Application for Per Session Employment and Claim for Retention Rights,” reflects that it does two jobs at once: it starts a new assignment and, where applicable, protects your right to the position next year.

Your Identifying Information

The top of the form asks for your DOE file number, the last four digits of your Social Security number, your name, home address, and telephone number. You also enter your current primary assignment, including your school code and job title. Getting the file number wrong is one of the fastest ways to stall processing, because the payroll system uses it to match your per session work to your existing employment record.¹

The Per Session Assignment

Enter the activity code your supervisor gave you along with the assignment details. This is where the application ties itself to a specific posted position and a specific funding source.

Other Per Session Work This Year

The form asks whether you have worked or plan to work in any other per session activity during the current July-through-June year. If yes, list every other position. The DOE uses this disclosure to track your cumulative hours against the annual cap for your title. Leaving the section blank when you actually hold multiple assignments can trigger a payroll hold once the central office spots the discrepancy.¹

Retirement, Certifications, and Supervisor Sign-Off

Confirm your retirement system status and list any certifications or licenses relevant to the role. The hiring supervisor then signs a certification attesting that you have the qualifications for the position and that the hiring followed C-175’s posting procedures.³

Claiming Retention Rights on the Form

Retention rights let you hold onto a specific per session position from year to year, and the OP-175 is where you claim them. You need at least two years of continuous satisfactory service in a particular per session activity before any rights attach. Principals and assistant principals, covered by the DOE’s agreement with the Council of Supervisors and Administrators, do not have retention rights at all.²

A few constraints shape how you claim them:

You can hold retention rights in only one per session activity during a given year. If you qualify in more than one, you pick which to claim at the start of the year.
Claim it or lose it. If you are entitled to retention rights in a position but fail to claim them before or at the time you apply for a different per session job where you have no retention rights, the DOE can deny you the position you were entitled to.
Retention rights generally stay within your bargaining unit. A guidance counselor cannot gain retention rights to a per session teaching position covered by the teachers’ agreement, even after years of service in that role.

Once retained, you must be assigned to work for the full duration of the activity, though the total hours can vary year to year depending on program needs.²

Submitting and Getting Approved

The primary submission path is the electronic Per Session System inside the Payroll Portal at payrollportal.nycboe.net. Log in with your DOE credentials, go to the Per Session tab, and enter the data from your completed OP-175 into the digital interface. Some schools also want a physical copy handed to the payroll secretary or program supervisor so the site has an immediate local record.

Once submitted, the application moves through an internal workflow. Your principal or designated supervisor reviews and approves it. Check the Inquiry section of the Payroll Portal to see whether the status has moved from pending to approved.

Do not start working until you see that approval. Hours worked before the application clears will not be paid, and the DOE treats unapproved per session work as unauthorized.¹

Logging Hours After Approval

With the OP-175 approved, you document each work session on a per session time report. The timesheet captures the date along with your exact arrival and departure times. C-175 requires you to use a time clock to record those times, and the timecard stays at the work site. If no time clock is available, a daily attendance report with exact arrival and departure times must be maintained and signed by a supervisor.¹

Supervisor verification is non-negotiable. Whether the site uses a time clock or a paper sheet, the supervisor is accountable for confirming that every recorded hour is accurate. A missing supervisor signature is one of the most common reasons a time report gets kicked back, and that delays your paycheck. The school’s payroll secretary or site-based payroll administrator then enters the approved hours into the computerized system, which generates payment at the hourly rate set by your collective bargaining agreement.¹

Central payroll watches for consistency between the approved OP-175 and the time reports coming in. If you were approved for a tutoring program but submit hours under a different activity code, or if your cumulative hours start approaching the annual cap with no waiver on file, expect a hold on payment until the discrepancy is resolved.

Annual Hour Caps and Waivers

C-175 sets different annual maximums depending on your title:

500 hours for principals, assistant principals, and educational administrators
400 hours for teachers, secretaries, paraprofessionals, and other limited pedagogical staff
270 hours for school social workers and school psychologists

These caps cover your combined total across all per session activities in a single July-through-June year, not per assignment.²

To exceed the cap, you must submit a separate waiver to the Division of Human Resources before working beyond the limit. Waivers are not retroactive. Hours past the maximum without prior written approval will not be paid. A waiver granted in a previous year does not carry forward; you have to apply again each per session year.¹

1
New York City Public Schools. NYC DOE Per Session Application and Claim for Retention Rights
2
New York City Public Schools. Regulation of the Chancellor C-175 – Per Session Employment
3
NYC Department of Education. Chancellor’s Regulation C-175 2021-2022 Application for Per Session Employment and Claim for Retention Rights