format_list_bulleted Topic Overview

Payroll for Faculty

Paying Stanford faculty members can require additional administrative steps to manage specific situations, such as faculty pay spreads and salary caps to adhere to government and sponsor regulations on charging of salary to sponsored projects. This page covers faculty pay, specifically the issues of pay spreads, supplemental pay, payments for benefits and other fees during off-salary months, honoraria and sabbatical leave.

Salary for many faculty appointments is based on a nine-month academic year. Faculty may choose to spread pay for nine-month appointments over 10 or 12 months. This election is specified on the faculty member’s job record.

If a faculty member wishes to change their pay spread, they can contact Academic Affairs for the School of Medicine, or the Provost’s Office, Faculty Affairs, for all other university departments.

Payroll Administration Considerations

Sponsored projects require a charge to salary expense as it is earned, rather than as it is paid. Faculty who have elected to receive pay for a nine-month appointment over 10 or 12 months require special entries in the Labor Schedules system to charge associated sponsored projects as the salary is earned. Refer to Resources: Faculty Labor Distribution Entry Templates (Faculty Pay Spreads).

Additionally, sponsored projects may have limitations on the amount of salary that can be charged. For information on salary caps, refer to Salary Cap Administration on the DoResearch website. Special entries are required in the Labor Schedules system to allocate salary over the cap. Refer to Resources: Faculty Labor Distribution Entry Templates (Faculty Salary Caps) for more information.

Refer to the System: Labor Schedules page for information about getting access, training, how-to instructions, and more.

Non-medical school faculty who have nine-month academic year appointments may receive additional pay, if they teach or perform research during the off-duty quarter. Faculty may also receive additional pay for assuming significant administrative duties. Supplemental pay is added to the faculty member’s regular paycheck. See the Faculty Handbook for the supplementary compensation policy.

Payroll Administration Considerations

For instructions on initiating off-quarter and supplemental pay, refer to How to: Request, Modify or Stop Recurring Payments.

A faculty member on a nine-month academic year appointment who has not elected to have their salary paid over a 12-month period and does not receive supplemental pay during their off-quarter must make special arrangements with the University HR Service Team for continuation of benefits and to pay normal payroll deductions during the off-salary months of the calendar year (usually July 1 to Sept. 30).

To arrange the direct payment of other fees normally paid through payroll deductions, such as faculty loans or ground and water fees, the faculty member should contact the Faculty/Staff Housing Receivables representative.

Alfred Tolentino
1-650-721-1250
@email

Occasionally, faculty may contribute to special events, such as symposia, professional conventions organized and held at Stanford, or lecture series organized by Stanford colleagues outside one’s own department. Faculty may also take on other non-standard university activities at the request of the dean or provost.

Such exceptional services may warrant supplementary pay in the form of a one-time honoraria, which must be approved by the relevant Dean’s Office and the Provost's Office in advance of the service being performed. For more information, refer to Topic Overview: Paying Honoraria.

Refer to Section 3.2: Sabbatical Leave of the Faculty Handbook for complete information including:

  • Purpose
  • How to request
  • Appointments at other institutions
  • Service accrual towards sabbatical leave
  • Calculating sabbatical leave duration and rate of pay
  • Return to service following sabbatical leave
  • Borrowing sabbatical leave eligibility
Last Updated: Aug 2, 2023