This came up at our institution and caused a lengthy discussion some years
ago.  An upper administrator eventually sought advice from an outside
auditor who interpreted applicable sections of A21 as allowing pay beyond a
regular load if an institution has a policy providing such
compensation.  For example, if an institution has a policy providing for a
13th month of pay in certain circumstances then it's allowable.  We read
the same section and argued that it wasn't, but the auditor said that since
the "continuous period" was defined by the "policy of the institution" it
was OK if your policy provided for it.  You just needed to be consistent
and could not charge a higher "rate" for a given time period.  The auditor
believed that if the extra time/work was put in then compensation was
allowable for that extra time/work if the compensation rate was the same
(and it was part of your comp. policy).

I don't necessarily agree with the interpretation and there are all sorts
of other potential problems.  We did not implement such a policy but I
thought this alternative interpretation was worth sharing.

Jeff Myers
SIU

At 08:39 AM 1/22/02 -0600, you wrote:
>Linda,
>
>1) In terms of an overall federal government regulation, OMB A-21 (section
>J8d1) provides virtually the same prohibition as the NSF regulation which
>you cite below:
>
>"Charges for work performed on sponsored agreements by faculty members
>during the academic year will be based on the individual faculty member's
>regular compensation for the continuous period which, under the policy of
>the institution concerned, constitutes the basis of his salary. Charges
>for work performed on sponsored agreements during all or any portion of
>such period are allowable at the base salary rate. In no event will
>charges to sponsored agreements, irrespective of the basis of computation,
>exceed the proportionate share of the base salary for that period. This
>principle applies to all members of the faculty at an institution."
><http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/circulars/a021/a021.html#exc>http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/circulars/a021/a021.html#exc
>
>
>2) Basically, this long passage means to salary and wages direct charged
>on sponsored agreements can not be used to supplement faculty compensation.
>
>3) The other important consideration is the proper Effort Certification
>for faculty working on federal sponsored agreements.
>
>4) Locally, we mandate that any Overload Salary (i.e., administrative
>augmentations) paid from institutional accounts be encompassed into
>faculty "total activities" and the associated Effort be certified in
>compliance with A-21 (see section J8b2d).  Federal auditors found such
>acceptable during recent reviews.
>
>I hope that my response is on some assistance.
>
>Regards,
>Steve
>====================================================================
>
>On 1/16/2002, Linda Brown wrote:
>>Our University is reviewing its policies on allowing faculty to get
>>overload pay.  This means that faculty could get their 9-month academic
>>year salary, 3 months of summer salary, and then, in addition, they
>>could apply to the Provost for "overload" salary.  These applications
>>would be reviewed on a case by case basis.  My question is are there any
>>federal regulations which prohibit federal grant money from being used
>>for faculty overload pay?  I see in the NSF guidelines that grant funds
>>"may not be used to augment the total salary....of faculty members
>>during the period covered by the term of faculty appointment."   Thank
>>you.  Linda Brown
>>
>>--
>>Linda Brown, Associate Director
>>Maryland Institute for Policy Analysis and Research
>>University of Maryland, Baltimore County
>>1000 Hilltop Circle
>>Baltimore, Maryland 21250
>>(410) 455-1083   phone
>>(410) 455-1184   fax
>>xxxxxx@umbc.edu
>>
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