University of Michigan Unpaid Faculty Class Action Lawsuit

Sommers Schwartz attorneys fight for University of Michigan faculty who did not receive the full amount of their yearly salary increases.

The University of Michigan (UM) is Michigan’s flagship school, featuring globally recognized educational programs and an outstanding faculty. However, a new lawsuit alleges that in recent years, UM has failed to pay its faculty the full amount of the yearly raises promised in their contracts. Sommers Schwartz attorneys filed the class action lawsuit on behalf of the faculty, seeking the full and fair payment of the money owed.

How Were University of Michigan Faculty Underpaid?

University of Michigan faculty in Ann Arbor, Dearborn, and Flint are appointed on a “University Year” basis. The University year runs from September 1st to April 30th or May 31st, corresponding with the academic year.

Faculty appointed for a “University Year” are paid over a twelve-month fiscal year that begins July 1st and ends June 30th. UM’s written policy states, “faculty members with University Year appointments will receive their salary payments allocated on a fiscal year basis (July 1 – June 30).”

However, according to the complaint, when UM awards salary raises, it pays the raise on September 1st, the beginning of the University Year. This delay means the university doesn’t pay the raise for the first two months of the fiscal year. This arrangement results in University Year faculty being underpaid for two months of each year for which they receive a salary increase.

The University of Michigan recently announced it would correct this issue starting July 1, 2025. However, the University has refused to pay back faculty members who were underpaid in years before the 2025-26 fiscal year.

The class action lawsuit argues that UM has breached its contracts and experienced unjust enrichment at the expense of its faculty. As a result, it owes the faculty compensation for their unjustly withheld pay raises.

How Can I Tell Whether I Was Underpaid, and By How Much?

The complaint acknowledges that not all faculty members work under identical contracts but notes that UM’s pattern of underpayment was the same even when contracts weren’t identical. Any faculty member who should have started receiving a raise on July 1st of a given year but didn’t receive it until September 1st is a potential class member and is included in the class action unless they actively opt out.

You are likely to be a member of the class if all the following are true:

• You are a University of Michigan faculty member appointed on a University Year basis.
• Your contract between 2018 and now called for you to receive an annual salary raise.
• Your salary raises started on September 1st of each year instead of July 1st.

The University of Michigan did not provide salary raises to any staff members during the 2020-2021 University Year. However, it has offered raises in all other University Years since 2018-2019.

The class action lawsuit may affect faculty members on the Ann Arbor, Dearborn, and Flint campuses. Examine your pay stubs from the past several years to determine whether you were underpaid and by how much. If an annual pay raise took effect on September 1st, you may be entitled to compensation for UM’s failure to pay that increase in July and August of that calendar year.

Attorneys at Sommers Schwartz P.C. Are Here To Help

Sommers Schwartz attorneys Matthew Turner, Jason Thompson, and Kevin Stoops have joined forces to file a class action lawsuit on behalf of the affected University of Michigan faculty members. The class action alleges that faculty members received less than the full amount of their yearly salary increase, sometimes for several years.

Over time, these losses add up. For example, imagine a UM faculty member who earned $200,000 in the 2018-2019 University Year but was not paid their 5 percent raise until September 1st of every year. They have lost over $9,200 of the total salary increase promised in their contract from July 2018 to December 2024. Collectively, UM faculty may have lost millions of dollars because the University failed to follow the provisions of its own written policies.

The class action lawsuit may include over 6,000 University Year faculty members across UM’s campuses. If you are a member of the University of Michigan faculty appointed on a University Year basis and suspect you didn’t receive your full salary increases, contact the team at Sommers Schwartz, P.C. today.