The wave of lawsuits follows an $18 million settlement that part-time faculty members reached with the Long Beach Community College District over similar allegations.
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A group of part-time faculty from colleges in California have filed at least five lawsuits against the California Community Colleges Board of Governors and a third of the state’s community college districts, The Sacramento Bee reported Wednesday. The plaintiffs allege that the colleges failed to compensate them for work done outside “classroom hours,” including preparing for lectures, traveling to different campuses, grading and communicating with students throughout the week.
The wave of lawsuits—which seeks to recover “the pay owed to” the plaintiffs for “their considerable uncompensated work”—follows an $18 million settlement that part-time faculty members reached with the Long Beach Community College District earlier this year over similar allegations.
According to data from the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office, more than two-thirds of the system’s 60,000 academic employees were temporary or part-time. While adjuncts may teach up to 67 percent of a full-time faculty member’s assignment—and are similarly evaluated on their job performance—they work on short-term contracts and are paid lower hourly wages compared to the salaries and benefits tenured and tenure-track faculty receive.
