Pay student at conference?

[AJ_Katz]

The undergrad worker in my lab for the past year graduated in May and is starting in the MS program this fall.  This summer, they're hired as a temp research assistant.  We were not initially planning for her to attend our national meeting in the summer, but the postdoc and I were able to find a small side project for her to present as one of the "late breaking" posters.  She made her first poster for the project and will be presenting.  The conference is from Saturday to Wednesday, presentations start today.  She is engaged and participated in a workshop for her own professional development yesterday.  There should be plenty of talks and opportunities to learn at this conference.

It's been bugging me now though.  How do I advise her to submit her time card during this period of time she's at the conference?  Should I tell her to submit 8 hours per day?  I mean, the rest of us continue to get paid while we are on this trip, so why not her?  By having her here at this conference, it prevents her from working for pay, so I can see how that would be fair.  What have you all done before in this kind of situation?

[Hibush]

Chances are good that your school has a specific policy for hourly workers while on work-related travel. You should follow that policy.

[Mobius]

Students attending conferences usually aren't paid an hourly wage, right? When you mention we get paid, we aren't paid hourly.

[Morden]

We would pay for the student's registration, travel, accommodation, and per diem for meals; we wouldn't pay them an hourly wage for attending.

[AJ_Katz]

Students attending conferences usually aren't paid an hourly wage, right? When you mention we get paid, we aren't paid hourly.

No, we faculty aren't paid hourly, but when we go to a conference, we're not taking a pay cut to attend.  My student is paid hourly this summer because she's technically not a student right now, having just finished the BS in May and starting the MS this fall.

Chances are good that your school has a specific policy for hourly workers while on work-related travel. You should follow that policy.

That's a good suggestion and I'm looking into it.  My first pass searching for info has not yielded any results, so I'll contact someone in HR. 

We would pay for the student's registration, travel, accommodation, and per diem for meals; we wouldn't pay them an hourly wage for attending.

That is my initial feeling on it too.  But the total cost to pay her for 8 hours is around $150... so not much... but also, that's money she might need to be able to pay the rent in August. 

[fizzycist]

Initially I misread this. You are paying this student researcher 40 hrs/wk during summer because they are not yet a grad student so they can't be paid an RA stipend?

If so, then yes I would just pay them 40 hrs/wk (or whatever is the number you agreed on), regardless of what they are doing. Including looking the other way if they take a day or two off. And definitely including attending a work event like a conference.

If this were an undergrad doing part-time research with me, then I would also pay them the same agreed upon hrs/wk even for a conference. But what I wouldn't do is pay them more hours/wk because they were attending a conference.

[Kron3007]

Initially I misread this. You are paying this student researcher 40 hrs/wk during summer because they are not yet a grad student so they can't be paid an RA stipend?

If so, then yes I would just pay them 40 hrs/wk (or whatever is the number you agreed on), regardless of what they are doing. Including looking the other way if they take a day or two off. And definitely including attending a work event like a conference.

If this were an undergrad doing part-time research with me, then I would also pay them the same agreed upon hrs/wk even for a conference. But what I wouldn't do is pay them more hours/wk because they were attending a conference.

I have not been in this situation before, but think I would do the same.  It is a work trip, so they should get paid.  It also seems like a good gesture for an incoming grad student.