LBCC responds to 20 million payout for the part-time faculty lawsuit

During the February Board of Trustees meeting, a new budget outlined 20 million dollars set aside to pay the class action lawsuit that part-time faculty won against LBCC last year. 

In 2022, part-time faculty filed a lawsuit against LBCC claiming that they were violating California’s minimum wage laws. Part-time faculty were only being paid for the instructional hours they spent in class, and not for work outside of the classroom, such as grading, office hours and class preparation. 

Faculty claimed that when you divide the salary they earn for class time by the number of hours in total they spend in and outside the classroom, they were earning below California’s hourly minimum wage. 

“We just couldn’t say anything until it went through the board, and then it still has to go through the courts,” said Karen Roberts, one of the part-time faculty plaintiffs named in the lawsuit, when asked about the proposed budget.

The proposed backpay, coming from the allocated budget, is to go as far back as 2019 for the part-time faculty at LBCC, compensating them for the hours they were not paid for in class preparation, grading and office hours.

Along with this, part-time faculty are to receive a raise as of the spring semester 2026 to “stay in proportion to the full-time faculty,” according to Roberts, meaning that part-time faculty will still not be paid as much as full-time faculty but will get a significant boost.

“One of the things I thought about when I made the decision to be a plaintiff is, what would I tell my students, like what if one of my students came to me and said, ‘hey, this is happening to me’… I’d be like, ‘you have to advocate,’” said Roberts.

In an email sent to the Viking, LBCC Certificated Hourly Instructors (CHI) stated, “We’re pleased to share an update on the class action settlement. On February 4, 2026, attorneys filed a motion for preliminary approval, which means the full settlement agreement is now public and officially on record with the court.”

Similar lawsuits are now following suit, with a court in Sacramento County bringing claims that could cause uniform pay across the entire California community college districts.

The 20 million dollars was listed by the trustees as coming out of the Unrestricted General Fund for LBCC, and amounts to about 10% of LBCC’s annual budget. 

The Unrestricted General Fund houses the money for salaries, benefits, services and more for LBCC.

When asked about the budget information, Director of Communications and Community Engagement Stacey Toda sent an email to the Viking News.

“The Long Beach City College Board of Trustees recently approved a $20 million interfund transfer to address a class action lawsuit settlement and related expenses that remain subject to final court approval. Resolving this matter allows the District to avoid prolonged litigation and manage risk responsibly, consistent with standard practices across public higher education.

LBCC remains financially stable, and the transfer does not affect the District’s ability to meet its Board-mandated reserve requirements or impact staffing or classes.”

LBCC’s board policy requires a 16.67% reserve in the Unrestricted General Fund, which is about 68 million dollars put aside for this reason. The fund now contains 20 million less, about 30% of the reserves, due to the lawsuit. 

When asked about the impacts to LBCC’s budget and how we rebuild the reserves, superintendent-president Mike Munoz said, “Do we want to cut programs? No, and that’s always the last thing we do. You look for other efficiencies… are there vacancies, positions that are vacant that maybe we don’t need to replace, that can provide some relief.” 

“There is a whole slew of strategies that you employ before you get to cutting programs and laying off people… So we’re always always king of retooling the budget with that lens, right? Prioritizing students first, supporting employees or faculty and staff,” said Munoz.

With another lawsuit pending, regarding former Superintendent-President Reagan Romali, LBCC faces more legal battles and funding responsibilities. They placed another 300,000 dollars in legal fees for the Romali lawsuit also in the February trustees’ meeting, also coming from the Unrestricted General Fund.