The following information will be important for all postdoctoral fellows as well as their primary investigators and supervisors.
In May 2017, the Government of Alberta passed Bill 7, An Act to Enhance Post-Secondary Academic Bargaining. The Act designates Postdoctoral Fellows (PDFs) who are employed by post-secondary institutions in Alberta as employees as of November 1, 2017.
The University of Alberta, in collaboration with the University of Calgary and University of Lethbridge, have been reviewing the impacts of Bill 7 and determining how to manage the transition of university employed PDFs.
Beginning November 1, 2017, PDF appointments will be categorized into one of the following three categories: Employees, Trainees, or Guests.
Employees
PDFs are employees when they receive payment through grants or funding provided by the University of Alberta or through grants provided to their principle investigators (PIs) by external funding agencies such as the TriCouncils. The funding is administered through the U of A.
Trainees
PDFs are trainees when they apply for and receive all payment from funding awarded in their own name on a competitive basis to facilitate their own independent research projects. The funding in this category may be administered through the U of A and expensed in accordance with relevant policies.
Guests
PDFs are guests when they apply for and receive funding in their own name on a competitive basis to facilities their own independent research projects (NSERC, SSHRC, international funding); unlike the trainee PDFs, the U of A does not administer these funds on behalf of the PDF.
Both PDFs and their principal investigators and supervisors will be impacted in the following ways:
Changes for PDFs:
1) PDFs are now subject to provisions within Section 9.1 of the Alberta Labour Relations Code. As a result, they have all the rights and remedies granted to unions under the Code, including the right to strike. They will be represented by the University of Alberta Postdoctoral Fellows Association (PDFA) as their recognized bargaining agent.
2) The earnings of PDFs, classified as employees, will now be subject to legislated statutory deductions including Canada Pension Plan (CPP) and Employment Insurance (EI). In the past, these payments were treated as fellowships, regardless of funding source, and although subject to income tax deductions, were not subject to Canada Pension Plan (CPP) and Employment Insurance (EI) deductions. As of Nov 1, PDFs classified as employees, will now be required to contribute to both CPP and EI.
Changes for principal investigators and supervisors of PDFs:
1. For those PDFs whose earnings are now subject to legislated statutory deductions, including Canada Pension Plan (CPP) and Employment Insurance (EI), an equal contribution to CPP and EI must also be made by the university and will be charged through the grant(s) that is funding the PDF.
To assist with estimating the annual and pay period cost of the CPP and EI deductions for both the PDF employee and the supervisor, please try the Online PDF Deduction Calculator.
Postdoctoral fellows transitioning to an Employee appointment type will receive a T4A and a T4 tax slip in February 2018. The T4A will indicate all 2017 fellowship earnings (pre-November) and the T4 will indicate 2017 employment earnings (Nov-Dec).
For information on how this may impact PDFs, principal investigators, supervisors, and the university, please click here.