Re: Postdocs salberts@xxxxxx 22 Oct 1996 10:04 EST
--Boundary (ID 80xPF7fbl8+X8CjZAWdHJA) Content-type: TEXT/PLAIN I think the issue in classifying post-docs is that your label needs to be consistent with the work they are actually doing. We treat postdocs being paid from research grants/contracts as employees on the regular payroll, with full fringe benefits. This is consistent with their function as a Research Associate on the project, and the concept that they are being compensated for services provided in the furtherance of the research. If however, they are the recipient of a fellowship, they are paid from the "fellowship payroll," or "withholding-exempt" system, which is a separate system, has no fringe benefits (because fellowships rarely include these), and is exempt from withholding. [No that doesn't mean they don't pay taxes, it's just a holdover name from the days when student stipends were tax-free.] The fellowship payroll is used for awards where the purpose is not so much the project the person is working on, but continuation of his/her training, and is not regarded as compensation for services in the same way as a research grant. Our fellowship payroll does not require that those on it be classified as students, and conversely, students can be compensated on the regular payroll, too, when they are actually working. Susan Alberts Duke University ______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________ Subject: Postdocs Author: xxxxxx@wmich.edu at Internet Date: 10/21/96 5:29 PM How do you handle postdoctoral fellowships at your institution? Are they considered employees or students? What sort of fringe benefits do they receive? At our school the student classification applies only to those actively pursuing a degree. We treat postdocs as employees with all the associated fringe benefits. Some of our faculty have raised concern over this practice since the fringe benefits add considerably to the cost of the postdoc in their budget. We have been told that other schools do not treat postdocs as employees, but as students. If that is the case at your school, how do you classify them as students when they are not actively pursuing a degree? Chris McDowell Grants & Contracts Western Michigan University xxxxxx@wmich.edu --Boundary (ID 80xPF7fbl8+X8CjZAWdHJA) Content-type: TEXT/PLAIN RFC-822-headers: Received: by mc.duke.edu; Mon, 21 Oct 1996 17:32:40 -0400 (EDT) Received: by gate1.health.state.ny.us; Mon, 21 Oct 1996 17:16:28 -0400 Received: by gate1.health.state.ny.us; Mon, 21 Oct 1996 17:16:28 -0400 Received: by gate1.health.state.ny.us; Mon, 21 Oct 1996 17:16:28 -0400 Date: Mon, 21 Oct 1996 12:17:30 LCL From: xxxxxx@wmich.edu Subject: Postdocs Sender: Research Administration Discussion Group <xxxxxx@health.state.ny.us> To: Multiple recipients of list RESADM-L <xxxxxx@health.state.ny.us> Reply-to: xxxxxx@wmich.edu Message-id: <xxxxxx@gate1.health.state.ny.us> Organization: Western Michigan University Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT X-From: Chris McDowell <xxxxxx@OVPR.WALWOOD.WMICH.EDU> X-To: xxxxxx@albnydh2.health.state.ny.us --Boundary (ID 80xPF7fbl8+X8CjZAWdHJA)--