Title
Office of Sponsored Programs - 500.05 - Personnel Expenditures
Purpose
The purpose of this standard is to identify the guidelines for handling personnel costs on sponsored projects.
Policy Statement
Significant variations in policy directives from sponsoring agencies mandate that each is consulted for authoritative guidance on acceptable expenditures. Careful consideration is required in planning budgets to account for each expenditure. Budgetary cushions or allowances for unexpected expenditures (commonly known as "padding") are not allowable on sponsored projects. This does not preclude the utilization of reasonable escalation factors applied to personnel costs such as salaries and wages.
I. Expenditures Regarding Personnel
Salaries & Wages
All personnel commitments are handled in conformity with established University salary and wage policies. Budgetary data contained in a proposal does not in any way supersede such policies.
Salaries, wages, and related costs are allowable as a direct cost to the extent that they are reasonable, conform to the established University salary and wage policy, and are certified in the Effort Certification and Reporting Technology (ecrt) system according to the percent of the employee's full-time equivalent (FTE) effort. Amounts charged to contracts and grants are based upon the University payroll. After-the-fact effort certifications are also required by the Federal government to sustain the distribution of effort for professional and staff members.
Overtime for professional personnel is not permitted. Overload, or one-time, payments for additional duties unrelated to an employee’s regular responsibilities, are governed by the UNC-CH Office of Human Resources (OHR). Overtime for non-professional personnel is allowable to the extent approved by the awarding agency. The Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) is to be notified immediately of any situation which may require significant overtime. In cases of salaries charged partly to grant or contract funds and partly to institution funds, overtime premium costs must be proportionate to that of the funding sources.
Congress has imposed a limitation, or cap, on the amount of annual reimbursement of direct salary for individuals on grants, cooperative agreements, and contracts awarded from some Federal agencies. This salary cap is an annual requirement that is subject to change with each congressional appropriation. If an individual’s annual salary is greater than the Federal salary cap(s), the difference in effort must be cost-shared by the department.
Due to the inconsistent nature of possible exclusions and exceptions, allowability of any deviations from the general guidelines is determined on an individual, case-by-case basis, in concert with the assistance of the administrating Sponsored Projects Specialist (SPS) in OSP.
Unallowable Honoraria
An honorarium payment is characterized by the primary intent to confer distinction upon an individual. Payments of this nature are unallowable charges to sponsored research. Also, the term "honorarium" should not be used to refer to consultant services.
Stipends
Stipends for fellows and trainees are permissible only on training or fellowship grants. Payments to individuals working on Federal research projects, including graduate students, are considered salary payments and must be reflected as such on the personnel activity report.
Related Requirements
Unit Policies, Standards, & Procedures
Contact Information
For questions regarding this operating standard and its related procedure, please contact SponsoredPrograms@unc.edu.
For questions regarding Pre-Award management or Post-Award administration, please contact the assigned SPS.
For invoicing, reporting and other financial matters, please contact the assigned Sponsored Projects Accountant. OSP Staff assignments are found in RAMSeS or on the OSP website.
History
History Table
| Date |
Description |
| 07/01/2022 |
Revised to reflect new office name. |
| 05/15/2018 |
Revised to coincide with the release of the new OSP Website. |
The operating standards in the Office of Sponsored Programs Operating Standards & Procedures Manual supersede any OSP operating standards, procedures and appendices previously included in the University Business Manual, a publication of UNC-Chapel Hill’s Division of Finance.