Strike Payroll

Currently, hourly student workers are required to accurately enter their time worked each week.  That process will continue in the normal course during any strike period.

We expect that our students will enter their hours honestly during this period. Falsifying a timesheet is a serious offense, and as noted by the Student Employment Office, fraudulent reporting of hours worked is gross misconduct and will result in immediate termination from employment, in accordance with our policy. Any students who fraudulently report their hours worked may also be referred to the Office of the Dean of Students for potential further disciplinary action, up to and including loss of financial aid and/or expulsion from the University. Please see our Student Employment Office website for more information.

Graduate student workers receiving a weekly stipend must complete the Payroll Accounting Survey by 9 am eastern time each Monday. Pay will be withheld centrally for those students who doid not attest to working the prior week or who do not complete the form, and will be released upon receipt of an attestation. The link will remain open and active on our website,  and will also be distributed to students’ registered BU email addresses on Wednesday afternoons from provost@bu.edu.  

Students on non-service stipends are paid monthly. These students are not required to fill out the survey. 

If a student misses an attestation, they are now able to use the payroll accounting survey to attest for back payment and their pay will be released – faculty attestations are no longer required. Students are encouraged to use this mechanism to release withheld payments 

If a student’s pay has been withheld in error, a student may also request that their supervisor or program administrator submit a form certifying effort for a given payroll week and the stopped payment will be reversed.  

In such cases, supervisors can provide effort certification by completing the faculty survey. Please note this survey is only accessible to faculty and staff. 

Graduate students receiving the attestation are in stipended service-paid research or teaching roles that are part of the Boston University Graduate Worker’s Union (BUGWU). Non-service students are not part of the bargaining unit and do not need to fill out the attestation.  

If you are in a teaching role, you should attest that you have worked during the relevant pay period if you have completed your typical job responsibilities for that payroll period (which could include teaching a lecture, leading a discussion or lab section, grading, or tutoring). 

If you are in a research role, you should attest that you have worked during the relevant pay period if you have completed your typical job responsibilities within the lab for that payroll period.

PhD students who wish to avail themselves of available vacation or sick time (if eligible) in accordance with our student vacation or sick leave policies should arrange for such time off with their supervisors, in accordance with University policy.  All leaves should be approved by the student’s supervisor(s) as the policies describe. Please consult the current PhD student vacation policy and PhD sick leave policy for more information. 

Any students who have done so should then select the option that they are taking appropriate leave under the policies and should be paid during this period.

No. The attestations are a way for the University to know which bargaining unit members are working during the strike period so it can pay those workers during this time.   

International student visas depend on a student’s full-time enrollment and continued academic progress at the University, not on those students’ status as employees or hours worked in employment roles. 

BU students who are concerned about their visa status should check in with the International Students & Scholars Office. 

Yes. The graduate student union declared a strike, as of March 25, and has informed us that members will be withholding their labor from the University during the strike period.

Members of the bargaining unit have the choice as to whether they’d like to participate in the strike action or not. The University will not retaliate against any bargaining unit member exercising their lawful right to strike.

Normally, salaried graduate workers are paid weekly, without payroll attestation, throughout the semester. We developed the attestation forms to ensure that any graduate workers who choose to work during the strike period can attest to their work effort during the strike and be paid for those pay periods.

Students who need a disability accommodation to access or complete the attestation form should contact Disability and Access Services for assistance.  

Students whose sincerely held religious beliefs conflict with a University policy, procedure, or other academic requirement may request a reasonable religious accommodation from the University with respect to that requirement.  

Any student who believes they need a religious accommodation with respect to the attestation form should reach out to their department and/or the Student Employment Office to request one. 

The payroll cycle for the spring semester ends on April 28, with the last paycheck received on May 3. Teaching positions will not be required to attest after that period, though those roles do formally have work responsibilities through the end of the academic grading period. (Teaching positions received payment for their work in May prior to the start of the semester in January.)

Spring research positions will also end on April 28. Researchers with summer appointments will continue to attest the following week, as the summer research appointment process begins immediately after the end of the semester on April 29.

Students who are in graduate research fellow (RF) positions for the entire summer will be paid for 17 weeks, from 4/29-8/25. They will continue to receive weekly attestations.

Students in graduate teaching fellow (TF) positions are paid on a different schedule than summer RFs. Summer TF positions are paid by summer term and are set up on their pay schedule.

• Summer 1 TFs will be set up from 5/20-6/30
• Summer 2 TFs will be set up from 7/1-8/11
• A student who is a TF for both summer sessions (rare but occasionally does occur) will have start and end dates of 5/20-8/11.

A student who is a summer term TF for one session and an RF for the other session will fit into one of the pay scenarios:

• Summer 1 TF (5/20-6/30) paid for six weeks, summer 2 RF (7/1-8/25) paid eight weeks. There is a four-week pay gap in between the last payment in spring semester and the first payment for summer 1.

Summer 1 RF (4/29 – 6/30) paid for nine weeks, summer 2 TF (7/1-8/11) paid for six weeks. There is a three-week pay gap between the last payment for summer 2 work and the first payment for the fall semester (9/6).

Non-service appointments (and their associated stipends) are not formally part of the BUGWU bargaining unit and therefore will not be required to attest. Non-service summer stipends will begin payment on 5/24 and are paid monthly.