The document summarizes the results of a Council on Governmental Relations (COGR) survey conducted in August 2016 regarding institutional responses to forthcoming changes to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which would significantly increase the minimum exempt salary threshold impacting postdoctoral researchers. Among the 109 responding research institutions, which included both public and private entities and institutions with medical schools, 63% had already made a decision about adjusting postdoc salaries, with 75% either deciding or leaning toward uniformly increasing all postdoc salaries to the new threshold. Another 25% favored allowing principal investigators or departments to decide between raising salaries or managing time reporting and overtime, indicating varied approaches to policy implementation within and across institutions.
The survey found that the majority of institutions had substantial populations of postdocs, many of whom currently earned below the new FLSA threshold. The leading considerations for increasing salaries included the complexity of time management, ensuring institutional compliance, ethical concerns, morale, and competitive positioning. Funding the significant additional salary costs, which ranged widely according to postdoc population size, would primarily fall to individual investigators, though departments, schools, and central administration were also expected to contribute. Only a small proportion of institutions planned to establish centrally-funded hardship pools to address financial impacts. Overall, the survey indicates a sector-wide shift aimed at both regulatory compliance and broader workforce management issues in the higher education research environment.
