Brian Cahill
Brian Cahill
Arturo Castro Nava
Arturo Castro Nava
MCAA Management
MSCA problems with contract and salary
Hello everybody,
Does anyone have MSCA fellowship experience at RUB university in Bochum? I am 2 months late for my salary. Is this normal in Germany?
Thanks for help,
Best wishes,
Filip
21 Comments
Thanks Maxim! keep in touch from rub email.
F
Not in my case either. Was it your first salary or were previous ones normal? Have you talked to your host/secratary/HR?
Best
Siwei
Hi Siwei Bai,
Yes this is my first salary in Germany. I have an extensive touch with local university administration and they ensured me that everything is done thay could do and that LBV is in lait. In the mean time I received a kind of prepayement from LBV and hopefully the first real salary will come at the end of this month. Thank for help,
Best regards,
Filip
I did not have that problem (I had a MSCA in TUM). It is actually really weird.Talk with the following people in this order the secretary, finance department, Kowi, European officer.
Best,
Thanks for help Pablo. Yes I followed this order and it seems that thing are going solved now. Likely my salary will be in late only 2 months not 3.
Best wishes,
Filip
I agree with the others that it is not common at all. I also recommend you not to forget about asking your supervisor if the university enrolment cost will be covered (reimbursed) by the budget of the project.
BR
Yes I checked also this. Thanks!
F
Do you have a working contract ? What is written in your working contract? The situation you mentioned is not normal.
Dear Vasileios,
Yes I am agree this is not normal. Of course I checked the contract which is a regular one. The point is that really the administration and the LBV seems to be very in late. However, I recently received a prepayement. Hopefully this is an indication thigs are going to be solved and they will pay me till end of the month (?).
Best wishes,
Filip
Usually, you get your salary at the end of each month. And Germans are very reliable in paying. (The stereotype works.) The Landesamt für Besoldung und Versorgung of the county = Bundesland (in your case Nordrhein-Westfalen) is responsible for that., I don't know whether they are responsible of fellowships, but Marie Curie fellows have local contracts as far as I know. In 2013, they had big troubles because they changed their software system. But that should not be the case today. You might ask the personell department of RUB or the LBV directly. However, often they don't speak English well, so a colleague might help you. (Usually, you don't talk about salary in Germany, but in the Öffentlicher Dienst the contracts and financial conditions are more public than in the industry sector.)
Anyway, if you need a translator (English-German), you can contact me.
Dear Sara,
Thanks for replaying! Unfortunatelly, here it seems that stereotype does not work :-(. However, I got finally all the info and yes LBV is responsable and they, together with the university administration were in late (so far end of this month will be 3 months if they do not pay me at the end of November). I manage to speak with responsable people so no need for German translator but thanks for offering help! It seems that thing are going to be resolved: indeed, I received a small prepayement and in the letter from LBV is written like payments should start normal from now on. Let´s see at the end of this month. I hope.
Best regards,
Filip
Hi Filip,
I revise: A stereotypical German always pays in time. A stereotypical German administration in the public sector is always late. ;-)
Best, Sara
Hi.
I also agree - this is not normal.
I would also make sure you double-check your account number with the secretary/HR department.
And before approaching the project officer with anything, really make sure this can not be resolved in the local administration. First at your place of employment, then, if necessary, with your project coordinator/project leader, and only if this does not work (which definitively should work), address the project officer in Brussels.
Additional to your salary, also have in mind all tuition fees have to be covered by the employer (except "social fees"), as well as anything related to your visa (including costs for health insurance in advance etc.)
Good luck,
B.
Hi Barbara!
Thank you so much for indication. As other suggests I follow this step and it seems that everything is going to be resolved. I will wait till end of this month if really I will receive my first salary (this will be then 2 months in late). Only if again I will not have it (so 3 month in late) then I will contact the project officicer.
All the best,
Filip
Hi!
I started my ITN at GUF three years ago already. I didn't have major problems either, and, as others are saying, Germans are quite reliable in paying the salary at the end of every month. But! I did not get my first salary at the end of the first month, because of some local administration problems (there was some paperwork missing, some signs here or there... I don't know).
The best step to take in my experience is to talk to the personal service department of your local university and clarify what is happening. These grants work so that the EU "gives a bunch of money" for the project to the university/partner, and is the university itself who is in charge of paying your salary. So will always be them the ones to talk to
All the best, Filip!
Dear Isabel,
Yeah I undesratnd these things, and indeed I was following and asking info at the administration all the time. The bad things is that they know I am comeing 6 months in advance and I gave them all the documents they asked me much before I come and anyway they are in late. This is so embarasing I suppose for them. Let´s see if they will solve this tll end of the month (then "only" 2 months in delay, I am working here from 1.9.2019).
Best wishes,
Filip
Hi, I had a similar situation at TUB for my MSCA-IF this year. Got my salary from 2 month after starting.
Actually one month after starting, I inquired my situation to the EU office of the university, and the personal department of the university. Could hear that it took some time for them to complete the process. You should better to ask the university, where you signed the contract.
Best regards,
Yeon Joo
Hi Yeon Joo,
Thanks for sharing your experience. If they will pay me at the end of this month I will be in late for my salary 3 months (actually 2 as I am here form 1.9.2019). It seems really common the administration delay here in Germany, at least for the first month. So far I keep the record then (not proud though).
Best wishes,
Filip
Hi all,
I thought I would just quickly add to this thread to relay that this is not just an "international researcher" type problem. I currently have a number of friends who work for diffferent states, and in one case the person who works in the legal system, had to wait for 6 months for their pay to commence.
What I found is that even when the university provides all of the necessary documentation to the state office that processes payments (like LBV in North-Rheine Westfalia), it can still take some time for things to happen, and that is with established German citizens.
In some cases however you can request an advance payment to be made while things are being processed, so it is worth contacting the state office representative (if you have that information) to find out what can happen. Hoping it works out for you Filip.
Regards,
Scott
Hi,
I just started my MSCA PostDoc in Germany.
Can anyone guide me on how to calculate MSCA salary in Germany?
What's the difference between employer brutto and employee brutto?
Best,
Shweta
Hey Filip,
I'm here, went through ITN in 2014-2017, all quite smooth. In particular, I do not recall such a big delay, maybe just the first salary came a bit later than it should.
Let's get in touch locally?
Best wishes,
Maxim