University’s long-established practice of failing to include two months of raise payments in paychecks impacts approximately 3,600 professors campus-wide

Media Contact: Barbara M. Fornasiero, EAFocus Communications; barbara@eafocus.com; 248.260.8466

Southfield, Mich. — November 26, 2024 — Sommers Schwartz, a preeminent national plaintiff law firm, today announced a class action lawsuit has been filed against the University of Michigan on behalf of a tenured professor who was continually deprived of full pay. The lawsuit, Gocek v University of Michigan, was announced by Matthew Turner, lead attorney on the case and a senior shareholder at Sommers Schwartz.

The lead plaintiff in the lawsuit is a professor of sociology at the Ann Arbor campus. In all, an estimated 3,600 University of Michigan tenured professors from the Ann Arbor, Dearborn and Flint campuses were systematically underpaid by the university each year they received a salary increase – many of them for 10 years or longer – by an amount nearly 17% of the raise.

Background

The tenured professor in the lawsuit, as well as her colleagues, are paid a full-year’s salary based on what the University of Michigan refers to as the “university year.” Following this payment policy, faculty members with university year appointments receive their salary payments allocated on the university’s fiscal year, July 1 to June 30. In practice, however, when salary increases are awarded to faculty members paid on the university year basis, the payment of raises does not occur until September 1. Hence, the university year payment system denies the tenured professors the contractually required payment of their raises each year for the months of July and August. In 2024, the school agreed to change its withholding of raise payments effective July 1, 2025, with no intention of providing the lost raise income retroactively.

“To be clear, the two months of raise income was knowingly unpaid by the University of Michigan,” Turner said. “The practice is a money grab by the university that has continued for decades; planning to change the practice in 2025 is not sufficient,” Turner said. “The sum of nonpayment is estimated in excess of $2.5 million collectively per year, and we are demanding repayment on behalf of our client to the maximum amount of retroactivity allowed by law.”

The lawsuit seeks retroactive payment for three years, the maximum time for a lawsuit against the state of Michigan.

About Sommers Schwartz

Founded more than 50 years ago, Sommers Schwartz lawyers are among the preeminent plaintiff contingent fee lawyers in the country. The firm’s 30+ lawyers are experienced trial attorneys with active cases pending in both state and federal courts throughout the country. Practice areas include employment litigation, commercial litigation, class action litigation, medical malpractice litigation and personal injury litigation.

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