Long Beach City College lost a class-action lawsuit served by part-time professors over its failure to pay adjuncts a fair and livable wage, a ruling that will hold extensive financial repercussions for the college and change the state of higher education.
The recent win causes LBCC to pay part-time faculty for the work they do outside of the classroom, in addition to instructional hours.
Judge Stuart M. Rice’s verdict opens up the possibility for LBCC to provide back pay to adjunct professors going back to 2019.
However, the college’s budget will not be able to accommodate back pay for the thousands of hours of work done by adjuncts since 2019.
The lawsuit was originally filed by adjunct art professor Karen Roberts, who was then joined by adjunct art professor Seija Rohkea when the lawsuit turned into a class-action.
LBCC has been completely aware of the lack of compensation given to part-time faculty.
“One of the things that the judge said was that Long Beach City College knew that they were asking us to work outside of our teaching hours,” Roberts said.
Part-time professors have long felt unsatisfied by their wages.
“We are only paid to teach, we are not compensated for office hours, grading or any non-instructional hours…We insist on a living wage for part-timers for all the work that they do, not just instructional work, all of the work,” CHI Union President Crystal Huckabee told the Viking in 2023.
CHI, which stands for the Certified Hourly Instructors, is the union for part-time employees at LBCC.
Full-time faculty receive compensation for work both in and outside of the classroom.
“We get paid probably a third of what full-time professors do. When you think about it, part-time faculty make up two-thirds of the faculty on campus. We’re held to the same standard, we teach the same students, but all of the prep work and emails? None of that is compensated,” Huckabee said.
Regardless, these professors continue to work despite performing unpaid labor for the good of their students.
“I teach about eight hours every week. When it comes to grading, I could easily spend 10 hours outside of the classroom,” LBCC English adjunct instructor, Michelle Draper, said.
These hours easily add up semester to semester, and Roberts took notice.
The lawsuit turned into a class-action in 2022, meaning any part time professor at LBCC could join Roberts in the fight for fair wages.
“The CTA (California Teachers Association) legal team felt that we might be able to bring a class action lawsuit based on proof that we are not exempt from minimum wage laws. If we could prove that we are not exempt from minimum wage laws, that would mean that the district needs to be paying us for the additional work that we do,” Roberts said.
Rohkea, who holds a full-time position at Fullerton college, used to refer to her teaching position as “fun and free work.”
“All of that work was being done for free, and it was no longer fun. I started really feeling the exploitation of our labor. So in 2022, when I was asked to hop on board with this class action, I was more than ready,” Rohkea said.
This was not the first time that adjunct professors have asked for better wages.
“I was president of CHI for eight years, every time we’d go into bargaining the district refused to pay us for the work that we do outside of the classroom, ” Roberts said.
The CHI union contract with LBCC states, “The District shall provide CHI time during College Day of each school year to conduct a general membership meeting and meet with bargaining unit members regarding association business.”
The bargaining done by the union provided little achievement for the adjuncts.
“The district has never allowed us to bargain the hours we are paid. They have not budged on the poverty wages. I am sorry that it took a lawsuit to change it,” Huckabee said.
Roberts, Rohkea, and other part-time professors were advocated for by attorney Eileen Goldsmith.
“How has this been allowed to go on for so long and what can we do about it? The college continues to exploit part-time faculty, they can barely make ends meet. It’s a terrible system, we’re trying to reform it,” Goldsmith said.
This lawsuit gives precedent to other community college adjuncts to ask for the same wages.
“To set precedence for other adjuncts is the reason we do this. I’m hoping that the California Ed code eventually changes because of this. A disservice on one is a disservice on all,” Rohkea said.
Currently, there are four other lawsuits in California regarding the same issue, namely one against the Los Angeles Community College District.
According to their website, the Los Angeles Community College District is the largest community college district in the nation and consists of nine colleges.
“There are approximately 40,000 adjunct faculty teaching in higher education in the state of California alone, so most higher ed uses adjunct faculty,” Roberts said.
LBCC still has the chance to appeal the decision, which Roberts believes is what will happen.
“I would hope not. They’re breaking federal labor codes,” Huckabee said.
Goldsmith believes that it would be difficult for Long Beach City College District to appeal the decision successfully.
When asked for a comment, LBCC President Mike Munoz and Carl Kemp, the executive director of public affairs both answered, “We don’t speak on pending litigation.”
LBCC is faced with the decision to either comply with the ruling and burden themselves financially, or to appeal the decision and attempt to continue underpaying their employees.