Boston University is the latest local school to face a lawsuit for reportedly paying employees late.
A BU lecturer has filed a $5 million class action suit against the Trustees of Boston University in U.S. District Court — alleging that the school only paid workers once a month.
Those monthly payments were late, violating the Massachusetts Wage Act, according to the lawsuit filed by lecturer Lydia Curtin-Wilding.
“Defendant’s illegal policy and/or practice of paying Class Members on the last business day of the month resulted in all wages earned in the first half of the month being paid late, in violation of the Wage Act,” reads the lawsuit.
“Defendant’s illegal wage policy and/or practice have resulted in the withholding of millions of dollars in wages, causing harm to Plaintiff and the members of the Class,” the suit states.
This lawsuit comes after employees at Amherst College and Harvard University filed late payment suits against those institutions in the last couple months.
The Amherst and Harvard lawsuits are in Massachusetts state court, but this BU suit was filed in Boston federal court because the lecturer lives in Rhode Island and the class is suing for more than $5 million.
A Boston University spokesperson on Monday declined to comment on the lawsuit.
“… we do not comment on legal matters,” the BU spokesperson wrote in an email.
Curtin-Wilding has been a BU lecturer since August 2015, and she alleges that she was only paid monthly during the 18-month class period from Feb. 18, 2022 until Aug. 1, 2023.
For instance, Curtin-Wilding reports that she was paid on Dec. 30, 2022 for the entire month of December.
“Plaintiff and the Class never elected at their own option to be paid on a monthly basis,” reads the lawsuit.
“Under the Wage Act… Defendant should have paid Plaintiff wages earned for the work she performed during the first fifteen days of the month no later than December 21, 2022,” the suit states. “By delaying the payment of Plaintiff’s wages earned during the first fifteen days of the month until the end of December, Defendant deprived Plaintiff of these funds in violation of the Wage Act.”
Curtin-Wilding is bringing the lawsuit individually, and on behalf of all other members of the class who are exempt employees.
“… There is a well-defined community of interest in the litigation,” according to the lawsuit.
“The potential members of the Class as defined are so numerous and so diversely located throughout Massachusetts (as well as outside the state), that joinder of all the members of the Class is impracticable,” the suit reads.
Violators of the Massachusetts Wage Act are required to pay the employees three times their unpaid and/or late paid wages, according to the lawsuit.
Curtin-Wilding is seeking: “The Court award Plaintiff and Class Members statutory damages in the amount equal to three times their unpaid and/or late paid wages… The Court award Plaintiff reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs of litigation… The Court award Plaintiff and Class Members all prejudgment interest on their unpaid and/or late paid wages… and post-judgment interest.”
Boston University’s total revenue was $3.3 billion for the tax year from July 2022 to June 2023, according to the institution’s 990 form. That total revenue of $3.3 billion was a 17% jump from the total revenue of $2.8 billion from July 2020 to June 2021.
Meanwhile, BU’s total salaries amounted to $1.4 billion from July 2022 to June 2023 — a 23% increase from $1.2 billion during the tax year from July 2020 to June 2021.
The university’s net profit has fluctuated from $356 million during the tax year from July 2020 to June 2021, to $291 million from July 2021 to June 2022, and then to $304 million from July 2022 to June 2023.
The highest earners from July 2022 to June 2023 include then-President Robert Brown, who in his final year as BU’s top leader took home a total compensation of $2.6 million, which included a base compensation of $1.3 million.
The BU employee with the highest base compensation was professor and physician Tony Tannoury, who had a base compensation of $1.8 million and overall took home more than $1.9 million.
The other highest compensated employees were: professor and physician Xinning Li with almost $1.5 million; professor and oral surgeon Pushkar Mehra with $1.4 million; university provost Jean Morrison with almost $1.4 million; CIO and assistant treasurer Clarissa Hunnewell with $1.3 million; professor and physician William Creevy with $1.2 million; and medical campus provost Karen Antman with $1 million.
