Former adjunct professor sues university over wage dispute

The hearing to potentially approve a $1.15 million settlement approaches after a former Chapman professor took legal action against the university for allegedly failing to pay some employees sufficiently.

Frank Chindamo filed the original complaint against Chapman in July 2020, and the hearing to approve the final settlement will occur April 14. Photo collage by DANIEL PEARSON, Photo Editor

Over 5,000 Chapman employees may receive their formulated share of approximately $664,166 in settlement money after a near two-year legal dispute between the university and former adjunct professor Frank Chindamo. 

The faculty member, who previously worked in the Dodge College of Film and Media Arts, filed a complaint against Chapman in July 2020, claiming the university did not pay employees for all hours worked. 

After subtracting attorney fees and other deductions from the original settlement amount of $1.15 million, approximately $664,166 will be left to distribute to approximately 5,507 individuals employed by Chapman between April 10, 2016 and June 30, 2021, depending on three employee classifications: “adjunct class,” “working from home class” or “parking reimbursement class.”

At this time, the court has preliminarily approved a Class Action Settlement Agreement and will decide whether to give approval April 14 at the Final Fairness and Approval Hearing. 

The complaint alleges that Chapman failed to pay adjuncts for the non-teaching activities performed outside of their scheduled classroom hours. Chindamo’s filings also claim that Chapman violated rest break laws and meal break laws.

“Defendant was required to comply with California's wage and hour laws, including … the obligation to pay Aggrieved Employees for all hours worked, to pay for nonproductive time and rest break time separate and apart from the piece rate, and to authorize and permit paid rest periods, and to provide complaint meal periods,” the original complaint reads.

Chindamo’s argument, according to legal filings, includes that Chapman did not keep track of the hours worked by adjunct professors’, did not include any entries for hours worked or applicable hourly rates on their wage statements and paid these employees once per month instead of twice.

Chindamo’s complaint also alleges that Chapman failed to pay some employees all wages owed upon discharge and the university owes these workers compensation for non-teaching tasks and rest and meal break pay.

Chapman has continually denied all accusations but has agreed to settle with Chindamo. There has been no ruling on Chindamo’s claims against the university, but thousands of Chapman employees are subject to the funds if the settlement is approved.

The adjunct class consists of individuals who worked for Chapman as adjunct professors or part-time lecturers between July 10, 2016 and Dec. 31, 2019. This group consists of 1,374 individuals who are entitled to 75% of the settlement money — approximately $498,125.

The working from home class consists of 4,738 individuals employed by Chapman who were eligible to work remotely between March 19, 2020 and June 30, 2021. This group would receive $146,116 — 22% of the settlement funds.

The parking reimbursement class consists of all individuals who purchased a parking permit from Chapman between Nov. 19, 2019 and March 26, 2020. This group, which consists of 1,832 people, would receive $19,925 — 3% of the settlement amount.

Chindamo alleges in the paperwork that Chapman did not provide sufficient breaks under California law and failed to pay faculty members for all hours worked outside of class time.

“Defendant required and/or expected Aggrieved Employees to: (1) prepare syllabi prior to the beginning of their periods of appointment, (2) be available to students outside the hour of classroom instruction, (3) create exams and/or projects and other course materials, (4) grade, (5) attending faculty meetings,” the original complaint reads. “Defendant failed to pay any wages to plaintiff and aggrieved employees for the time spent on non-teaching tasks, and had no practice and/or policy in place to compensate them for such work.”

Part of the problem started in October 2019 when California Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed AB 1466 — a bill that would have made adjunct professors at private universities salaried professionals instead of being paid hourly. Since this bill was vetoed, Chapman shifted to paying adjunct professors hourly, starting Jan. 1, 2020.

Prior to January 2020, Chapman adjunct professors were paid per class taught with a flat rate. The change to an hourly rate gave most adjunct professors a pay raise. 

Months later, AB 736 — the revised version of AB 1466 — was signed into law by Newsom in September 2020. The implementation of this bill reverted Chapman’s payment for adjunct professors back to a flat rate and resulted in a considerable pay rate drop for these employees in spite of the bill’s minimum compensation floor.

“The minimum payment that is calculated using classroom hours shall encompass payment for all classroom or laboratory time, preparation, grading, office hours and other course- or laboratory-related work for that course or laboratory, and no separate payment shall be required,” the bill reads.

The bill also dictates that the minimum salary be at least twice the minimum wage if the employee works 40 hours. Added to that, payment includes classroom hours — prep time, grading, office hours, lab time, etc. — at $135 per hour in 2022.

Chindamo was unable to comment on the case at this time.

Julian Hammond, one of the attorneys representing Chindamo, wrote a declaration in support of Chindamo September 2021 stating that when Chapman adjunct professors were paid per class, they did not get compensated for work done outside of traditional class time hours.

“Plaintiff alleged that during the Class Period, Chapman paid Adjunct (Class Members) a fixed amount per course, which was based on the number of units taught, class size and program,” Hammond wrote. “Adjunct (Class Members) were paid for the hours of course instruction only and were not paid hourly and separately for non-teaching tasks, such as preparing for class prior to and during the semester, grading, office hours and attending meetings.”

Hammond has been successfully taking class action lawsuits against various private California universities over the past few years — including Pepperdine University, Stanford University and Saint Mary’s College of California — claiming that employees have not been paid fair wages.

“HammondLaw has been certified as Class Counsel or Co-Class Counsel in at least 50 wage and hour class actions, representing thousands of class members, in the Superior Courts for the Counties and federal District Courts in California in diversity jurisdiction cases based on state law, over the last ten years,” Hammond continued in the statement.

Hammond’s Pepperdine case reached a settlement of $940,000 in 2021, the Stanford case settlement was $886,809 in 2019 and Saint Mary’s settled for $1.7 million in 2021.

Although the case has not been publicized in the news, Cerise Valenzuela Metzger — Chapman’s director of public relations — said the university has kept employees informed of every step throughout this case. 

“It is important to note that Chapman University had begun action to reimburse employees before the filing of the class action suit and the university maintains that it has always treated employees fairly and legally,” Valenzuela Metzger wrote in an email to The Panther. “The university agreed to a settlement to avoid the expense and disruption of further litigation and to expedite the process of payment to employees.”

The court is anticipated to give final approval for the settlement on April 14, 2022 and then payments should follow within two to three weeks.

This is a developing story. Follow The Panther on social media and at www.thepanthernewspaper.org for updates.