NIH Important Notice – Projected FY 2017 Stipend Levels for Postdoctoral Trainees and Fellows

Dear Colleagues:

The NIH Guide Notice below provides important information for faculty, researchers and administrators. Please disseminate this information as appropriate. Questions regarding this notice should be directed to me.

Nancy

Projected FY 2017 Stipend Levels for Postdoctoral Trainees and Fellows on Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards (NRSA) – NOT-OD-16-134

The purpose of this Notice (NOT-OD-16-134)is to announce projected stipend levels for postdoctoral trainees and fellows supported by Kirschstein-NRSA awards in Fiscal Year (FY) 2017. The projected new stipend levels are planned to be effective December 1, 2016. The projected new stipend levels align with the spirit of the U.S. Department of Labor’s recently issued revisions to the rules on paid overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

The new FLSA paid overtime rule sets a salary level of $47,476 for professional employees to be exempt from paid overtime. Many universities, including UCI, that employee postdoctoral researchers use the NRSA stipend levels as a guide to set the salary or compensation levels for postdoctoral researchers funded on research project grants.

NIH is fully supportive of increased pay for postdoctoral researchers and has proposed to increase the NRSA postdoctoral stipends to the levels cited in the Notice. Please note that the project stipend levels are provided for planning purposes. The FY 2017 NRSA stipend levels and implementation date are still to be finalized. Additional guidance on NRSA stipend levels and implementation dates will be communicated in the coming months.

Nancy Lewis

Executive Director, Sponsored Projects