Class Action Suit Claims the University of Michigan Failed to Pay Appointed Faculty in Full for Salary Raises

Sommers Schwartz attorneys Matthew Turner, Jason Thompson, Kevin Stoops, and Thomas Nafziger recently filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of University of Michigan faculty members, alleging they did not receive the full amount of their yearly salary increase and that this occurred going back many years.

Click here to read the class action complaint.

How Were UM Faculty Underpaid?

According to the complaint, UM appoints faculty on its Ann Arbor, Dearborn, and Flint campuses on a “University Year” basis that mirrors the academic year—September 1 to April 30 or May 31. UM maintains a written policy stating that University Year faculty are paid over a twelve-month fiscal year—July 1 through June 30. The disparity between the University Year and the fiscal year is the basis for the lawsuit’s breach of contract and unjust enrichment allegations.

Contrary to UM’s written policy, when salary raises are awarded to faculty members appointed on a University Year basis, UM initiates payment of the increased salaries on September 1, not June 1. As a result, UM has systematically underpaid University Year faculty by the amount equal to their base pay raise multiplied by two twelfths.

Calculating the Amount of the Underpayment

To understand the extent of UM’s underpayment, consider the following hypothetical example of a University Year faculty member who earned a $200,000 salary for the 2018-2019 academic year:

• For the 2019-20 academic year, UM increased the faculty member’s salary by 5% to $210,000 but failed to implement the increase until September 2019, the start of the university’s fiscal year.

• Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, UM did not provide faculty raises for the 2020-2021 University Year, but the faculty member received another 5% salary increase to $220,500 for the 2021-2022 academic year. UM did not implement the increase until September 2021.

• The faculty member received three more 5% annual salary raises for the 2022-2023, 2023-2024, and 2024-2025 academic years—$231,525, $243,101, and $255,256, respectively. Yet UM repeatedly failed to implement these annual increases until September 1 of each fiscal year.

Because of UM’s continued underpayment, the faculty member was shorted $9,209 of the $55,256 in total salary increases from July 2018 to the present.

Talk to One of Our Attorneys

More than 6,000 University Year faculty members are believed to have been financially harmed due to UM’s violation of its own policy. 

If you are a member of UM’s faculty appointed on a University Year basis and believe you have been cheated out of your full salary increases, you may be eligible to participate in the pending class action. Please contact us to discuss your case and potential damages.