There is very little information available on how much postdocs are actually paid in the U.S., beyond data on institutional salary policies gathered by the National Postdoctoral Association. Following on from recent discussions about postdoc salaries changing as a result of proposed updates to U.S. Federal labor law, we have gathered data from a selection of institutions through Freedom of Information Requests, asking only for titles and salaries of postdocs, to see if we can identify actual postdoctoral salaries. The aggregate data, and more information, can be found at out “Investigating Postdoc Salaries” Resource. Every day, we will be releasing a discussion of each individual institution or system from which we received data. Today: Wayne State University.
Cost for FOIA Request: $0
Additional notes: None.
Wayne State University cancelled planned salary raises after the injunction against the FLSA update was granted. In their communications, they implied this was due to the injunction requiring them to do so, which is not the case; the injunction simply removed the federal mandate for raising salaries, not the ability necessarily to do so.
The Wayne State postdoc policy appears contradictory, in that there is a 3 year maximum postdoc term, but exceptions are only required if people postdoc for more than 6 years, implying that the real limit is 6 years, but there is still the possibility to make exceptions:
“4.1.6, The postdoctoral researcher position is a temporary position with a maximum term of three years. Appointments are normally made for a period of one year. Extensions beyond six years require prior written approval of the dean of the Graduate School or their designee.”
The minimum salary policy for postdocs at Wayne State is $36,000. In our dataset, 9 postdocs of 111 were below this salary level. 60% of salaries were below $47,4,76.
