Completing a Request for Research or Post-Doc Appointment Form

In this section, you are asked to provide basic information for the individual you are appointing, including their name and salutation, home address, and the email address to which their letter of appointment will be sent, as well as personal information, including the appointee's Social Insurance Number (SIN) and country of citizenship.

You must also confirm that the appointee is eligible to work in Canada and indicate whether or not he or she will require a work permit or visa.

If the individual you are appointing has been employed by the University in the past, provide their University of Windsor employee number. If this will be their first appointment with the University, leave this section blank.

Please note that all individuals employed by the University of Windsor must possess a valid Social Insurance Number (SIN). If an individual is a foreign national, he or she must obtain and provide a valid work permit, issued by Citizenship and Immigration, Canada, to work at the University of Windsor prior to commencement of employment.

In the Supervisor Details section, provide the name, department, and extension of the individual to whom the appointee will report. Please note that the supervisor and grant holder do not need to be the same individual.

In this section, you must also indicate whether or not the appointee is a relative. If the appointee is related to either the supervisor or the grant holder, you must complete and submit the Research or Post-Doc Appointee Conflict of Interest Form.

Here you are asked to provide information on the type of appointment, appointment title, hours the appointee will work, and the duration of the appointment.

In the Type section, indicate whether the appointment is new, a reappointment, or if a supersedes letter is required. Letters of reappointment will only be issued where no changes have been made to the title, department, supervisor, full or part-time status of the appointment and where the new term of appointment commences immediately following the last day of the previous term. If you are requesting changes to an appointment that is already in progress, select Supersedes Letter Required.

Next to Title, select the appropriate title for the appointment. If you would like to use an alternate title, enter it next to Other. 

Next to Hours, specify the number of hours that the appointee will work each week. Please note that only hours less than 24 per week will be considered part-time and that full-time hours must not exceed 44 per week. If the number of hours that your appointee will work in a week will vary, you must estimate the maximum number of hours that he or she will be permitted to work weekly. Please also note that weekly hours must be specified and that forms where this section is left blank will not be processed.

In the Duration section, you must provide the start and end dates for the appointment and calculate the total number of months and/or weeks of the appointment. The duration of the appointment must not exceed 12 months.

In the Compensation section, you are asked to provide information on the amount that you will pay the appointee. In the appropriate field, enter the amount that the appointee will be paid hourly, monthly, and/or annually, and the total stipend for the appointment.

Unless the weekly hours that an appointee will work will vary, all research appointments should be paid through a stipend. To calculate the total stipend for the appointment, multiply the hourly rate by the total number of hours that will be worked over the duration of the appointment. For example, if you are going to pay the appointee $16.12 per hour to work 24 hours per week for 16 weeks, the formula would look like this:

hourly rate x weekly hours x weeks worked = total stipend

$16.12 x 24 hours x 16 weeks = $6,190

Effective October 1, 2023, the Ontario Ministry of Labour raised minimum wage from $15.50 per hour to $16.55 per hour. Please note that the hourly rate you enter in this section must not be lower than $16.55 ($17.21 per hour including vacation pay). If there is zero vacation, please use $17.21 as the minimum rate.

It is important to remember that payroll will automatically deduct funds to cover mandatory statutory benefits, including contributions to Canada Pension Plan (CPP) and Employment Insurance (EI), equivalent to 10% of the total stipend you have entered in this section from your grant account in addition to the stipend. Do not include this additional 10% in the total stipend amount you enter on this form.

However, if the stipend you have calculated represents the maximum amount that you want deducted from your grant account, you will need to calculate the stipend amount less the 10% mandatory statutory benefits. To do so, divide the total stipend by 1.1%. Using the example provided above, the formula to calculate the total stipend less the 10% mandatory statutory benefits would look like this:

original stipend amount ÷ 1.1% = stipend amount less mandatory statutory benefits

$5,760 ÷ 1.1 = $5,236 

You can use the same formula to calculate the new hourly rate. Change the original stipend and hourly rate amounts to the new hourly rate and stipend amounts (less mandatory statutory benefits).

If the hours that the appointee will work will be different from week to week, indicate that the appointee will be paid using time cards. If you have elected to pay the appointee using time cards, please note that you will be required to submit signed time cards twice monthly in accordance with Payroll deadlines. For more information on completing and submitting time cards for your appointee, please visit Post-Appointment Information.

In the Vacation section, indicate the amount of vacation time the appointee will be entitled to. Typically, vacation entitlement for a 1 year appointment is 2 weeks.  For appointments less than 1 year, indicate the number of vacation day(s) OR select N/A and 4% will automatically be included in your total stipend amount. If you would like to pay 4% vacation pay in addition to the total stipend amount, multiply the original stipend amount by 1.04. Using the example provided above, the formula to calculate the total stipend plus 4% vacation pay would look like this:

original stipend amount x 1.04 = stipend amount plus vacation pay

$5,760 x 1.04 = $5,990

You can use the same formula to calculate the new hourly rate. Change the original stipend and hourly rate amounts to the new hourly rate and stipend amounts (including the additional 4% vacation pay). 

In the Benefits section, you can select which optional health benefits, if any, the appointee will be provided with.

Green Shield health benefits can only be offered for full-time, full-year appointments. If the appointee is full-time and will be employed at the University for a full year (12 months), you can opt to cover the cost of Single or Family Green Shield coverage for benefits, including vision, dental, prescription drug costs, semi private, out of province, and extended health coverage, from your grant account.

The current annual cost of full Family and full Single Green Shield health benefits are $6561.00 and $2637.00 respectively. These amounts are subject to change each year on May 1. If you would like to provide full Family or Single Green Shield health benefits for the appointee, tick the boxes next to all of the coverage options in the Family or Single column and enter the grant account number you wish to charge the cost to.

It the appointment is full-time for a full year, you can also opt to cover the cost of some of the coverage options. For instance, you could cover the cost of Family or Single dental, vision, and drug prescriptions only. If you would like to pay for specific health benefits only, tick the boxes next to the coverage options you would like to provide in either the Family or Single columns, add the amounts provided next to the coverage options you have selected and enter the amount in the Monthly Total field, and enter the grant account number you wish to charge the cost to. You can calculate the annual cost of the coverage options you have selected by multiplying the Monthly Total by 12.

If the appointee requires health benefits but the grant is not supporting the cost of coverage, follow the instructions above and tick the box next to Paid by Incumbent.

If the appointee requires health benefits and is full-time but will be employed for less than one year, they can choose to cover the cost of their own coverage. If this is the case, follow the instructions above and tick the box next to Paid by Incumbent.

If the appointee is a foreign national who will be employed at the University on a work permit, they are required to carry health benefit coverage under the University Health Insurance Program (UHIP) for at least the first 3 months of their appointment. UHIP is temporary health benefit coverage equivalent to the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP). To be eligible for UHIP, an appointment must exceed 6 months. However, the appointee will be eligible for OHIP coverage after 3 months. UHIP coverage can be provided at the Single, Couple, or Family level for periods of 3, 6, or 9 months or for one year and can be paid by the incumbent or from your grant account.

If the appointee requires UHIP coverage, tick the box that corresponds with the appropriate level of coverage and timeframe and provide the grant number that you would like the costs charged to or indicate that it will be paid by the incumbent.

For further information on UHIP coverage, contact the Human Resources Benefits and Records Administrator at extension 2090 or 2053.

All Request for a Research or Post-Doc Appointment Forms, including those requesting reappointment, must be accompanied by the following forms and supporting documentation:

• Completed/updated Research or Post-Doc Appointment Position Summary
• Signed Research or Post-Doc Appointee Confidentiality Agreement for the term of appointment
• Copy of the Appointee's CV

If you have indicated that the appointee is related to either the Supervisor or the grant holder, you must also include a completed and signed Research or Post-Doc Conflict of Interest Form.

If the appointee is a foreign national who has already been issued a work permit, attach a copy.

In the Required Supporting Documentation section, tick the boxes next to each document that has been appended to the Request for a Research or Post-Doc Appointment form. Please note that requests for appointments that are missing any of the applicable above-noted forms and supporting documentation will not be processed until the package is complete.

All Request for Research or Post-Doc Appointment Forms must be signed by the Supervisor and/or Grant Holder, Department Head, and Faculty Dean authorizing the appointment. Once the Request for Research or Post-Doc Appointment Form has been signed by all of the aforementioned parties, the research appointment package must be sent to Research Finance for approval. Research Finance will forward the complete, authorized package to the Office of the Vice-President, Research and Innovation for processing.

If the appointee will not be paid, the appointment does not need the approval of Research Finance and should be sent directly to the Office of the Vice-President, Research and Innovation administrator at grantappts@uwindsor.ca for processing after the Request for Research and Post-Doc Appointment Form has been signed by the Supervisor and/or Grant Holder, Department Head, and Faculty Dean.

Please note that Request for Research or Post-Doc Appointment Forms that are missing required authorization signatures of any of the aforementioned parties will not be processed and will be redirected to the faculty member. 

In this section, you are asked to enter the grant account number you would like to pay the appointee from, the period over which the appointee will be paid from the grant account, and the amount that will be charged to the grant account.

If you would like to pay the appointee from more than one grant account, enter the amounts that will be charged to each account. The sum of these amounts must be equal to the total stipend amount for the appointment.

If you are paying the appointee from more than one grant account because you have limited funds in one of the accounts or because the grant will end, you must specify the period during which each grant should be charged next to the grant account number. 

The 10% mandatory statutory deduction and 4% vacation pay amounts should not be added in addition to the stipend amount in this section. These amounts will be applied automatically by Payroll. If you are paying the appointee from more than one grant account, these amounts will be distributed evenly between the grant accounts you have provided as 10% and 4% of the stipend amount charged to each grant. Please note that the 10% mandatory statutory deduction and 4% vacation pay amounts can not be charged to a different account than the stipend amount.

For further information on your grant account, including balance details and eligible charges, contact Research Finance.

Once the Request for Research or Post-Doc Appointment Form has been signed by the Supervisor and/or Grant Holder, Department Head, and Faculty Dean authorizing the appointment, the appointment package must be forwarded to Research Finance for approval.

Research Finance will review and approve the appointment and forward it to the Office of the Vice-President, Research and Innovation for processing.

If the appointee will not be paid, the Request for Research or Post-Doc Appointment Form does not require Research Finance approval after being signed by the Supervisor and/or Grant Holder, Department Head, and Faculty Dean, and should be sent directly to the Office of the Vice-President, Research and Innovation administrator at grantappts@uwindsor.ca.