The purpose of this Notice is to announce projected stipend levels for postdoctoral trainees and fellows supported by Kirschstein-NRSA awards in Fiscal Year (FY) 2017.
These projected new stipend levels are planned to be effective December 1, 2017. The projected new stipend levels reflect recognition of the significant contributions of postdoctoral researchers to the NIH, AHRQ, and HRSA missions, and also align with the spirit of the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) recently issued revisions to the rules on paid overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
The exact stipend levels and the actual date of implementation are subject to the availability of FY 2017 appropriations and implementation of the new FLSA threshold for professional workers to be eligible for paid overtime.
Projected Postdoctoral Stipend levels for FY2017
| Career Level | Years of Experience | Actual Stipend for FY 2016 | Projected Stipend for FY 2017 | Monthly Stipend |
| Postdoctoral | 0 | $43,692 | $47,484 | $3,957 |
| 1 | $45,444 | $47,844 | $3,987 | |
| 2 | $47,268 | $48,216 | $4,018 | |
| 3 | $49,152 | $50,316 | $4,193 | |
| 4 | $51,120 | $52,140 | $4,345 | |
| 5 | $53,160 | $54,228 | $4,519 | |
| 6 | $55,296 | $56,400 | $4,700 | |
| 7 or More | $57,504 | $58,560 | $4,880 |
Background
The new FLSA paid overtime rule sets a salary level of $47,476 for professional employees to be exempt from paid overtime.
Current NRSA stipend levels at years 0, 1 and 2 years of postdoctoral experience are below $47,476.
Many universities, teaching hospitals, and other institutions that employ 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 and grants other than the NRSA.
These institutions may choose to carefully track their employed postdoctoral researchers’ hours and pay overtime, or raise their salaries to levels above the new FLSA threshold and thereby qualify them for exemption from paid overtime.
NIH is fully supportive of increased pay for postdoctoral researchers and has proposed to increase the NRSA postdoctoral stipends to levels above the threshold: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/francis-s-collins-md-phd/fair-pay-for-postdocs-why_b_10011066.html.
Stakeholders at many extramural institutions have requested information about projected NRSA stipends for FY 2017 to assist with planning for future postdoctoral researcher payscales.
This Notice is therefore provided to assist the extramural community in their planning.
It is important to note that the projected FY 2017 stipends listed here and the implementation date are still to be finalized.
https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-16-131.html