Policy Manual
14. Personnel and Personnel Agreements
SIBCR may directly employ management, technical and administrative staff to support the research, educational and training programs and the administrative functions of the Institute. SIBCR may also enter into agreements with private and public institutions to cover salary costs of personnel conducting SIBCR business. The Executive Director will have discretion to modify all such employment agreements to correspond with available funds in member accounts.
SIBCR will verify the availability of sufficient funds for scheduled salary payments.
Payroll obligations are the primary responsibility of the member and must be met before any other payments will be made. SIBCR policy does not allow for overdrafts.
SIBCR is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate against any person in any matter of employment on the basis of race, color, creed, religion, national origin, sex, age, disability, marital status, sexual orientation or status as a disabled veteran or a veteran of the Vietnam era.
This EEO policy applies to all staff levels within the organization and includes (but is not limited to) the following: (1) recruiting and solicitation for employment; (2) hiring, placement, promotion, transfer, and demotion; (3) employment training or selection for training; (4) pay rates, compensation, and benefits; (5) layoffs and termination.
Direct Employment By SIBCR
SIBCR may employ full and part-time persons for support of the administrative, research and educational activities of the Institute. The length of employment for such individuals shall be indefinite, with no time commitments made. SIBCR maintains an employment relationship with employees that is "at will" of the employer and the employee. The hiring, termination, assignment of duties, and the determination of reasonable salary levels shall be upon the recommendation of the member and subject to SIBCR approval.
An Employee Request Form PDF DOC must be completed and submitted to the SIBCR office prior to employment by SIBCR. The requisite personnel forms for SIBCR employment are available in the SIBCR office. Completed forms need to be submitted to the SIBCR office before the employee can be hired.
No offer for employment through SIBCR shall be made without prior consultation with appropriate SIBCR staff (e.g., Assistant Director or Executive Director).
All SIBCR employees must obtain WOC (without compensation from the VA) status.
Employees are paid on a monthly basis. All employees must complete a time sheet and submit it to SIBCR, signed by the employee and supervisor, on the last working day of the month.
Employees certify by signing their time sheets that the hours worked for SIBCR do not conflict or overlap with hours worked for any other employer.
Specific work schedules will be set by the direct supervisor, but full-time shall mean 40 hours per week.
The following is a brief description of benefits.
Medical, dental, and vision insurance plans are available to eligible employees (an appointment of at least 50% effort and expected to continue for at least a year). Long and short-term disability is available to employees with appointments of 30 hours/week or greater expected to continue for at least a year.
TIAA-CREF is offered as the group retirement plan. For eligibility, an employee must work 1,000 hours in a 12-month period from the date of hire, and must work for six months before contributions may be made. All employees are eligible to participate in a supplemental retirement plan offered by TIAA-CREF with no waiting period.
All employees are entitled to Social Security coverage, Workmen's Unemployment Compensation, and Washington State Industrial Coverage.
Employees with appointments of more than three months accrue sick and annual leave at the same rate as permitted by VA policy. Limitations on carryover differ from the VA policy. Holidays will be paid for employees whose regularly scheduled tours of duty fall on these dates. The ten paid holidays will be the same as observed by the VA.
Please refer to the SIBCR Personnel Policy for more detailed information on all personnel policies, procedures and benefits.
If you intend to hire staff, more detailed information is provided in Employment Basics for Supervisors.
Personnel Agreements
SIBCR may enter into agreements with eligible institutions, for example, VAPSHCS or UW for repayment of personnel salaries. All personnel agreements should be executed prior to start date with the approval of the Executive Director of the Institute and the appropriate official of the participating institution. A Request Form 
PDF for an IPA must be reviewed and signed by the Executive Director prior to initiating an agreement.
These agreements may be used when an SIBCR employee will be temporarily assigned to a grant administered by another organization, e.g., a VA merit review award. However, all such mechanisms are temporary assignments. The employee is expected to return to an SIBCR paid appointment. Alternatively, an SIBCR administered award may fund an employee of another institution and require a personnel agreement.
Personnel agreements include the Interagency Personnel Agreement (IPA), the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), the Joint Personnel Agreement (JPA) or the subgrant or subcontract. In some cases, the reimbursement to the employing institution may be done via a purchase order. The preferred agreement between SIBCR and VAPSHCS is an IPA. An MOU may be used only if SIBCR is reimbursing VAPSHCS for a VA employee appointment.
There are specific requirements and review processes for each type of personnel agreement. SIBCR staff will review the options with the requesting party to make sure the appropriate mechanism is executed.
All grants that may require a personnel agreement must be reviewed with SIBCR staff prior to submission to a sponsoring agency.
In some cases, the participating institution may apply indirect costs and the proposed budget should reflect these costs. This will be the norm on subgrants/subcontracts between SIBCR and the UW. A JPA between UW and SIBCR will normally carry a 10% fee up to $5,000 per annum unless it is specifically waived (see below for details).
An IPA agreement can only be instituted for professional or technical personnel that have regular, continuing appointments. Temporary or intermittent personnel are not eligible for any personnel agreement.
Reimbursement payment schedules will be part of the personnel agreements.
Reimbursement for salary support will not be made in the absence of a formal, executed personnel agreement.
The member will attest invoices or time keeping records are accurate and in support of a VA approved research project or education activity before SIBCR will initiate payment to the participating institution.
SIBCR will track effort as required by a funding agency.
SPECIFICS ON UW PERSONNEL AGREEMENTS
The SIBCR Board of Directors understands that staff on sponsored projects including federal awards should generally be employed by the administering entity. Wherever possible this will be the rule followed by SIBCR so that SIBCR will be credible as the appropriate grantee.
Generally, dual-appointment faculty will not be paid directly from SIBCR administered awards. Instead the standard procedure will be for SIBCR to reimburse UW for VA-based faculty effort on grants whether federal or non-federal. Any exceptions to the standard will not be approved from SIBCR funds unless authorized by UW.
In addition, long term UW staff may be allowed to stay as UW employees because of the loss in state retirement funds if such employees made a switch to SIBCR employ.
A staff person with 10 years status as a UW/state employee will be considered a long term employee.
Staff with less than 10 years as UW/state employee will be considered for SIBCR employment on a grant administered by SIBCR.
Exceptions will be made in hardship cases at the discretion of the SIBCR Board management committee.
It is understood that SIBCR cannot in any way require a UW employee to switch to SIBCR employ. However, if the employee meets the criteria (<10 years as UW/state employee), is funded by grant or grants administered by SIBCR and does not qualify for an exception, SIBCR will not implement a salary reimbursement agreement (referred to as a joint personnel agreement) with UW.
Applying the JPA fee
The 10% fee is charged to all joint personnel agreements (JPAs) unless the sponsor does not provide any indirect costs or if there is a clear hardship rationale.
In order to cover this cost on a grant with other than the full indirect cost rate, the grant must include sufficient funds in the direct costs of the budget. Alternatively, the PI can cover this fee from unrestricted funds in SIBCR.
SIBCR has negotiated this charge into the DHHS negotiated indirect cost rate. Therefore for SIBCR-administered federal awards with full negotiated rate, the fee will be covered. Please discuss with SIBCR staff for details on the application of the fee.
Forms
IPA Request Form PDF