At Vanderbilt, postdoctoral employees on research grants are normally hired
with staff appointments and their salaries are subject to the normal fringe
benefit rate for staff.  Recently, a faculty member pointed out that this
really didn't make much sense since postdoctoral employees tend to only be
employed for periods of one to two years and often, never met the eligibility
requirements for participation in the retirement plan.  Therefore, we access
more in fringe benefits than an individual postdoc ever receives.

Do any institutions have a special fringe benefit rate for postdocs who are
employeed on research grants?  (Vanderbilt postdocs who are trainees on
individual or institutional training grants receive only health insurance and
are paid stipends--no fringe benefit rate is applied.)

Thanks for your responses.

Janiece Harrison
Division of Sponsored Research
Vanderbilt University
512 Kirkland Hall
Nashville, TN  37240
(615) 322-3979 Phone
(615) 322-3827 FAX
xxxxxx@uansv1.vanderbilt.edu