OU Zanesville branch settles contract lawsuit with nursing faculty
June 12, 2008
Ohio University has settled a lawsuit with seven nursing faculty from its Zanesville branch campus, who claimed that the university re-wrote their 2005 summer-quarter teaching contracts at lower pay levels two days after the session began.
In a settlement agreement filed in the Ohio Court of Claims last month, OU agreed to pay the seven faculty members sums ranging from $1,823 to $8,601, for a total of $36,386.
The agreement, approved by Judge Joseph T. Clark on June 3, states that it is not an admission of liability by OU, but only a compromise to settle the dispute.
The amount OU has agreed to pay, however, is almost exactly what the plaintiffs sued for originally.
The suit alleged that the plaintiffs — Timothy Blake, Vicki Sherrer, Sharon Staib, Deborah Henderson, Sandra J. Jones, Stacie L. Sweet, and Pamela S. Sealover — had signed contracts to teach the 2005 summer session.
Two days into the term, however, they claimed, OU cancelled these contracts through the university computer system, then told them about it two days after that.
About a week later, the suit alleged, new, significantly reduced contract pay figures were entered into the system.
The plaintiffs said in their suit that even at the lower pay, they all kept teaching for the sake of the students who had enrolled in their classes.
They filed administrative grievances over the contract issue, but lost.
In exchange for the cash payouts, the plaintiffs have agreed to drop all their claims against OU.
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