October 1 Funding Adjustment for Postdoctoral Scholars for the Academic Year 2011-2012

To: Postdoctoral Administrators
FR: Office of Postdoctoral Affairs
RE: October 1 Funding Adjustment for Postdoctoral Scholars for the Academic Year 2011-2012

It’s now time to work on completing your review of the salary/stipend levels of all postdoctoral scholars and clinical fellows in your area of responsibility in order to ensure that they meet the university’s minimum levels of support. We are approaching the first pay period where new minimums will have to be met. Adjustments must be reported to the postdoc and OPA via PD Web Forms (see below) and entered in GFS for the Aid Year 2011-2012. Instructions to do this are included below.

A mandatory adjustment of pay is required for any postdoc in order to be funded at a level that corresponds to his or her years of research experience or PGY, regardless of the source of funds (external awards, fellowships, salary) or the postdoc’s start date. An October 1 adjustment is not required if funding (salary and/or stipend) exceeds the appropriate minimum level of support required by the university.

The deadline to ensure that your GFS entries and PD Web Forms (Change Form) are all updated with the 2011-2012 funding information and paylines approved is October 15, 2011. GFS and other payroll deadlines can be found online at http://www.stanford.edu/group/fms/fingate/staff/payemployee/res_jobaid/payroll_schedule_deadline.html.

Funding (Salary and Stipend) Adjustments for Postdoctoral Scholars – Effective 10/1/2011
All Postdoctoral Scholars (Research) must be at the appropriate funding level, based on years of research experience on October 1 using the 2011-2012 Postdoc Funding Scale (online at http://postdocs.stanford.edu/handbook/pdfs/2011-2012%20PD%20Salary%20Scale.pdf). Even though a department may be giving salary increases on yearly anniversaries, departments must ensure that all postdoctoral scholars are funded at or above the university minimum levels starting October 1.

Funding (Salary and Stipend) Adjustments for Clinical Fellows – Effective 9/1/2011
Clinical Fellows must be paid at the appropriate PGY stipend level as of September 1. The new pay levels were released by Stanford Hospital & Clinics on 9/23/11 (see attached scale). If you missed the September payroll deadline, one-time payments will be necessary for September in addition to entering the pay increase for October 1. (see http://www.stanford.edu/group/fms/fingate/staff/payadmin/adminPay_postdoc.html#late_retroactive_payments for processing this type of payment).

How do I make salary adjustments in the new PD Web Forms system?
Detailed steps can be found in the training slides available at http://postdocs.stanford.edu/admin/PD_PS_Module_Training_092911.pdf (start at slide 172 for salary changes).

Salary adjustments are reported via the Change Transaction form in STF PostDocs in PeopleSoft. Select the Funding Change radio button and enter the new salary/stipend amount(s) with an effective date of 10/1/2011 (or 9/1/2011 in the case of clinical fellows). The Postdoc Web Form system automatically generates emails to the Postdoc about requested change and confirmed change.

If the Appointment End Date will also be extended, the extension can be processed on the same transaction by checking Appointment Dates Change as well as Funding Change radio buttons. A Funding Change effective October 1, 2011 is not possible if the Appointment End Date is September 30, 2011 or earlier.

If you have difficulties with the Change Form, please submit your questions to OPA via HelpSU. (Tickets submitted via the following routing go directly to OPA staff.)
http://helpsu.stanford.edu : Request Category = Student Services; Request Type = Postdoctoral Affairs

Postdocs on External, Directly-Paid, Funding
As part of your funding review, department administrators must obtain any award letters that document any portions of external funding directly paid to the postdoc in 2011-2012. Keep a copy of any funding letters in the postdoc file and provide a copy to OPA by email to postdocaffairs@stanford.edu.

Administrators must enter in GFS the external funding amounts, distributed over the period of the award, as ‘Info Only’ stipend line in the “FLSHP Stipend” tab, unless otherwise noted in the award letter. External funding paid in currencies other than US$ must be converted using the current rate. If the external funding amount is below the appropriate level, a supplement is typically provided from department funds, faculty discretionary accounts and/or some grants. An easy conversion tool may be found online at www.oanda.com.

Postdocs on Leave of Absence. What to do if my postdoc is on leave on October 1?
If your postdoc is on an approved unpaid leave when October starts, you need not enter stipend or salary lines in GFS. Apply the appropriate October 1 pay rate when the postdoc returns from leave.

Remember that postdocs remain ‘active’ during periods of leave, which allows for a continuation of benefits and access to privileges and other facilities. As a result, and even though a pay or stipend line is not required, you must enter a FLSHP Tuition line for Fall Quarter or else the postdoc will receive a bill from the university incorrectly.

Other Information
If you need to make late or retroactive payments, please review the following link for the steps to take: http://www.stanford.edu/group/fms/fingate/staff/payadmin/adminPay_postdoc.html#late_retroactive_payments

To help determine where your postdoc might be on the salary scale, you may use the Salary Calculator, a tool that is downloadable from the OPA website: http://postdocs.stanford.edu/handbook/salary.html. The table showing Stanford’s 2011-2012 minimum levels is also downloadable from the same page. Please note: the new salaries are built in to the PD Web Forms system and are calculated for you when you update the record via a Change Transaction.

Questions? If you have questions, please submit questions to OPA via HelpSU. (Tickets submitted to OPA via the following routing within HelpSU go directly to OPA staff.) http://helpsu.stanford.edu : Request Category = Student Services; Request Type = Postdoctoral Affairs