Law Firm Strikes Gold For Adjuncts’ Golden Years
by
Cara Nissman
Eva Mader has taught part-time for more than 20
years, but has only recently discovered she might
have been entitled to receive retirement benefits
since she started, thanks to the efforts of the Se
attle-based law firm Bendich, Stobaugh & Strong, P.C.
“People used to ask when I was going to retire,” said Mader, a part-time German instructor for 24 years at North Seattle Community College. “I used to say, ‘Don’t use that word retirement with me because I’m not going to retire. Retirement means you’re getting money from your employer when you leave.’ I would say, ‘One day, Eva’s not coming back.’”
Thanks to a recent King County Superior Court ruling in a class-action lawsuit brought by the Bendich, Stobaugh & Strong, Mader and about 1,000 other part-time community college instructors statewide are likely to receive $12 million in retroactive retirement benefits.
“We have made progress to make (ourselves) seem [less] like more than second-class citizens,” said Dana Rush, a part-time astronomy instructor at Green River Community College since 1991. “And without any job security–being employed term-by-term without tenure–it required a lot of courage to rock the boat.”
Rush, along with Keith Hoeller, co-founder of the spunky Washington Part-Time Faculty Association, decided to shake things up after reading about Bendich, Stobaugh & Strong’s the law firm’s victories on behalf of part-time workers against the Redmond, Washington software giant Microsoft Corp. and King County on behalf of part-time workers. The Microsoft battle lasted 12 years, and ended with in a $96.8 million settlement.
“They weren’t exactly the same issues, but pretty similar,” said Rush. “Microsoft was paying people very generously although they were denying them benefits, so our situation was more desperate. But [the Microsoft outcome] gave us some hope.”
The law firm investigated public records for nearly a year to discern if any laws had been broken. They eventually found evidence that the Department of Retirement Systems and the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges had illegally withheld benefits from part-timers for more than 20 years by refusing to recognize out-of-class hours in determining the part-time faculty’s eligibility for benefits.
“They didn’t do their addition correctly. The state was very plainly violating the rules,” said Stephen K. Strong, a partner on the case who, in 1975, co-founded the six-lawyer firm with two classmates from the University of Washington School of Law. The firm began as a general practice, but after a class-action suit on behalf of 5,000 Seattle workers misidentified as “temporary” employees settled for $12 million in 1980, the lawyers gained a reputation as workers’ advocates. The firm now specializes in employee benefit, compensation and discrimination class-action lawsuits.
Stephen Festor, another attorney on the case, said the firm represented the part-time faculty partly for the case’s sympathetic cause. “The state was very plainly violating the rules.”
“We’re sympathetic to worker’s rights,” said Festor, who graduated from the University of Oregon School of Law in 1993, and said he has always wanted to fight discrimination.
“The laws governing retirement benefits can be complicated for someone who’s not a lawyer to understand. It’s the job of the employer to fully and accurately inform their employees of their rights to ensure they receive the benefits they’re entitled to receive, but sometimes employers misinterpret the laws. I hope we can provide (Mader) and other part-timer employees some relief.”
Mader and Rush said that Governor Gary Locke has likened the part-time faculty’s situation to that of migrant farm workers. Many instructors are “freeway fliers,” teaching one or two classes at three or four community colleges during the school year to earn enough to survive a dry summer.
The part-timers have a dedicated law firm to fight for their rights.
“We’re very committed,” said Strong. And, as evidenced by the Microsoft case, “we’re pretty stubborn, too.”
“Many people don’t have a positive attitude toward lawyers, but when you consider they had no guarantee they’d win, yet put a lot of time into it without being paid, I cannot help but tell myself they have done this for us,” said Mader. “That’s terrific. It’s a real blessing that the law firm took on a case like this.”
The lawyers also knew a case this large could reap ample benefits for the firm.
“We realized it was a good case to bring, with legal merit,” said Festor. “It’s in our interest to bring a good case or we don’t get paid.”
The firm generally receives 30 percent of a lawsuit’s recovery, which in the retirement suit could mean nearly $4 million; however, Festor said the fee did not have bearing on the firm’s decision to take the case.
The Microsoft case has given the firm increased clout among their colleagues.
“It was definitely the David versus Goliath of litigation with the little firm taking on the big guy,” said Festor.
But the firm’s dedication to the part-timer cause in general has brought it national attention, including several awards and an article in the American Bar Association Journal.
“We believe in our cases and our clients,” said Festor. “We’ve done a lot to raise employers’ awareness of how to treat their workers fairly.”
“[Their work] shows [part-time faculty] are not different from any other workers,” said Wendy Rader-Konofalski, a lobbyist for the Washington Federation of Teachers.
The retirement suit also should make employers take notice, she said.
“It’s an important message that the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges is airing its dirty laundry,” Rader-Konofalski said. “By virtue of having made this [public], two main issues have emerged, including standardized hours and equal pay for equal work and making retirement commensurate with medical benefits.”
“I think [part-timers] have been very reasonable and asking only what’s their just due,” said state Representative Phyllis Guiterrez Kenney, who has been working with the community colleges for more than 30 years. “Most of the colleges are up to 40 percent part-timers, so these [faculty] are keeping the community and technical colleges operating.”
“There is no doubt that the community and technical colleges have been under-funded by the legislature….” state Senator Jeanne Kohl-Welles commented via e-mail. “Faculty ought to receive equitable compensation for their work, and equitable benefits as well.”
Bendich, Stobaugh & Strong also set legal precedent with their victory.
“Now part-timers can take action if they feel their employer has done something wrong or potentially unlawful and not just sit there and take it,” said Festor. “They can say, ‘Hey, look at this. [These Washington folks] got organized and brought a lawsuit. Maybe in our state or organization, this can provide a possible means of change.”’
The case also has strengthened other part-time faculty’s resolve to continue fighting for their rights.
“We’re very happy to see that the part-time faculty in Washington have won this case,” said Lantz Simpson, chairman of the California Part-Time Faculty Association. Unfortunately, California’s retirement system might be a tougher nut to crack. “The California situation is more complex because you can’t file a lawsuit at the state level. Our system is broken up into local districts.”
Washington’s system may be more cohesive, but the money still has to come from somewhere, which could pose a problem for future action on behalf of part-time faculty, explained Rader-Konofalski. Indeed, Senator Kohl-Welles said as much as $5 million might come from the budget of the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges.
“There’s no such thing as a free lunch,” said Rader-Konofalski. “There are always circumstances [ramifications] to what you do, and it might hurt the employees more than anything. But it’s a great step in the right direction.”
In addition to this case, the firm of Bendich, Stobaugh & Strong is representing part-time faculty in a class-action lawsuit to extend health benefits to those who teach half time or more during the summer. The Washington Part-Time Faculty Association just recently secured sick-leave accrual.
“Part-time faculty still earn on average only 54 percent of a full-time salary for teaching a full-time load, and the majority of part-time faculty are still not receiving medical or retirement benefits. So much remains to be done,” said Senator Kohl-Welles. “I think that improving the lot of the part-time faculty, who teach 43 percent of all the courses in the two-year system, is one of the best ways to improve the quality of the colleges.”
To many of the part-timers, the retirement suit is just the first leg in a long race.
“This is a small piece in a larger puzzle,” said Rush. “It’s a matter of dignity and acknowledging that I am a professional who deserves to be treated like one.”
“You wouldn’t believe how bad it can be,” said Mader. “I had a friend who had a 23-year-old clunker and didn’t know how she was going to pay the repair bill. It’s insane.”
The law firm and part-time faculty said they hope that their work will inspire other part-timers nationwide to investigate potential inequities.
“Don’t accept an employers’ statement that ‘That’s how it is,’” said Strong. “An investigation might reveal that something could be done. Lots of people out there deserve equal pay and equal benefits. And every state has its own rules. What people have to do is figure out what local or state law their employer might be violating.”
