This story originally appeared in EdSource.
A state Superior Court judge in Los Angeles County has ruled in a lawsuit that part-time professors in the Long Beach Community College District should be paid for work they do outside the classroom such as preparing lectures, grading papers, and meeting with students.
Judge Stuart M. Rice’s 22-page decision issued this week could have ramifications across the state’s community college system, where part-time academics, commonly called adjuncts, have long complained that they are only paid for the time spent in front of a class teaching.
The pay issue was highlighted in EdSource’s 2022 series on adjunct working conditions, Gig by Gig at California’s Community Colleges.
A similar suit, brought by adjuncts against 22 community college districts, the state community college system and its board of governors, is proceeding in Sacramento County.
The Long Beach suit was filed in April 2022 by part-time professors, Seija Rohkea and Karen Roberts. Rice wrote in his decision that their arguments were basically “whether failing to compensate adjuncts for out-of-classroom work is a minimum wage violation.”
Rice wrote that he found “a myriad of problems” with the district’s arguments that minimum wage rules didn’t apply. The judge stayed his decision pending further proceedings, meaning that it doesn’t take immediate effect.
A spokesperson for the Long Beach district did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.
John Martin, an adjunct at the Butte County Community College District and chairman of the California Part-time Faculty Association, praised Rice’s ruling.
It’s spot-on with what we have been saying,” said Martin, who is also a plaintiff in the Sacramento suit. “We’re not getting paid for outside (the class-room) work. This has been a long-time coming.”
Editor’s note: This story was updated to correct a typo in Seija Rohkea’s name.