How do I determine principle investigator (PI) fees?

There are three options for using PI fees in a grant:

1. Course Buyout: A faculty member wants to be free from teaching a course so they can spend additional time working on the project. The budget will have to cover the cost of a contract instructor to cover the course.
2. Salary Recovery. The University receives compensation for the PI’s time, and the budget is thus based on the PI’s salary plus approximately 18% benefits.
3. PI Fees: These are fees the PI is charging in addition to their normal salary, presumably because the project will require additional work over and above the 40% of time allocated to research in the CUASA collective agreement. The PI can charge whatever they want, but they will need to cover any associated Extended Health Benefits and Workplace Safety Insurance associated with the payment (about 2%) that do not have a maximum limit. The rest of the benefits are based on normal salary and do not scale with temporary increased income.

Note: The PI’s fees cannot be paid into a research account because the Canada Revenue Agency does not allow it.