UAW Agreement Sponsored Project FAQs

We anticipate that the total impact on active (in-flight) grants and contracts will be approximately $20 million over the next 2½ years.

New salary scales for covered employees for each academic appointment and step, and for each year of the agreements, can be found here, GSRs in Table 22, postdocs in Table 23, specialists in Table 24B, project scientists in Table 37B, professional researchers in Table 13B, and coordinators of public programs in Table 30B. Note that salary increases occur in April, 2023 and then in October in subsequent years. 

After identifying the differential required for all UAW-represented personnel, PIs should take the following steps first:  

1. Reallocate funds on contracts and grants as allowable. The primary strategy for covering salary differentials will be to absorb them into the existing budgets.  
2. If reallocation of grant budgets is not sufficient, use discretionary funds available to the project PI to the extent that these funds can be reallocated.   
3. If costs cannot be covered through resources of the PI, the PI should discuss their needs with their Department/Division Chair or their unit equivalent.   

If additional funds are needed, the PI may submit an application to the Dean through the on-line application form (available by the end of June), which will then be routed to the Vice Chancellor for consideration for Research Relief Funds. Note that Deans must approve all applications for the Chancellor/Vice Chancellor Research Relief Funds. 

The timing of salary increases under the UAW contracts for GSRs and Postdoctoral Scholars will result in mid-year adjustments to salary. Specifically, the first salary increase for GSRs and Postdoctoral Scholars occurred in April 2023 (impacting budgets for FY 23 which ends in June). Salary increases for GSRs and Postdoctoral Scholars will occur in October each year thereafter, so grant budgets will need to be calculated to incorporate these increases which occur partway through the fiscal year. 

Salary increases for Academic Researchers will occur on July 1 of each year. 

The agreements require that all covered employees, regardless of funding source, must receive the agreed salary levels for their academic type and step. Differentials for capped salaries must be supported through other sources. PIs should use any discretionary funds they have (including unexpended gift balances). When such sources of funding are not available or are insufficient, PIs should seek support through Department/Division Chairs or through the Research Relief Fund. 

Agencies have different rules for salary coverage, and within agencies rules vary based on the type of funding. Depending on the type of capped grant and agency, there may be some restrictions on how you can cover the gap between what the cap can cover and the amount stipulated in the UAW contract. For instance, NIH allows the “cap gap” on training grants to be covered by non-federal funds only. For NIH Training Grants or Fellowship please review the NIH Grants Policy Statement. 

Make sure to review the terms in the award and policies of the funding agencies for your specific award. 

Contracts and grants generally allow for some level of reallocation within the existing budget during approved project period or within the non-competitive renewal periods. For most awards, we don’t anticipate that the required reallocations will require agency approval.  

However, all agreements and their respective sponsor policies are different. It is prudent to review your agreement’s terms and conditions and your sponsor’s policies to understand agency-specific requirements.  

Please review Research Terms and Conditions (RTC) Agency Implementation statements, for example: https://www.nsf.gov/awards/managing/rtc.jsp. 

For reallocation of salary increases on an approved, current budget: Agencies have different guidelines and rules on rebudgeting, so the answer will depend on the agency as well as your strategy for reallocation. While you should review your agreement’s terms and sponsor guidelines, general guidance for NIH, NSF, and DOD is as follows: 

HHS (NIH, CDC, HRSA, SAMSHA) 

• NIH grants of all series should not require approval unless the reallocation impacts key personnel effort by 25% or more 

• NIH approves salary levels in accordance with the institution’s official policies. 

NSF 

Prior approval is required for: 

• Reduction of PI effort by 25% or more 
• Transfer of funds budgeted for Participant support to other categories
• Any adjustment to cost sharing commitments 
• All other rebudgeting between otherwise reasonable, allocable, and allowable costs is allowed, unless it represents a change in scope 

DOD  

PIs or Fund Managers should contact their DoD funding agency (DARPA, AFOSR, ONR, etc.) directly, as they may have differing policies regarding rebudgeting requirements and restrictions. In general, for nonconstruction awards, recipients shall request prior approvals from the cognizant grants officer for one or more of the following program or budget-related reasons: 

1.  Change in the scope or the objective of the project or program (even if there is no associated budget revision requiring prior written approval). 
2. Change in a key person specified in the application or award document.
3. The absence for more than three months, or a 25 percent reduction in time devoted to the project, by the approved project director or principal investigator.
4. The need for additional Federal funding.
5. The transfer of amounts budgeted for indirect costs to absorb increases in direct costs, or vice versa, if approval is required by the DoD Component. DoD Components should require this prior approval only in exceptional circumstances. The requirement in each such case must be stated in the award document. 

You can, but this should only be employed as a last resort. Also, if you have committed any GSR to work for the budget years specified under the UAW contract, you must find them an alternate source of funds. Ultimately, you must determine the best mix of human resources to support your grant’s statement of work. You may be limited by sponsor requirements on how you rebudget funds to reallocate costs. 

Use the salary scales for the appointment type and step provided by the UC Office of President Academic Personnel and Programs. Benefits should be calculated using the standard percentages found at UC San Diego’s page of Composite Benefit Rates. 

UC and our higher education peers recognize the impact of the fact that NIH has not increased the modular budget cap in 24 years. Each year, fewer and fewer NIH applications are able to use modular budgeting as the real costs of research have increased. We strongly encourage using detailed budget requests.

For both currently active grants and new proposals, PIs and Fund Managers should plan for the following salary scale range adjustments for academic researchers.

• July 1, 2023 – 4.5%
• July 1, 2024 – 3.5%
• July 1, 2025 – 3.5%
• July 1, 2026 – 3.5%
• July 1, 2027 – 4%