San Francisco Judge Grants Preliminary Approval for Academy of Art Wage and Hour Settlement

A San Francisco judge has granted preliminary approval for a $3.095 million settlement between the Academy of Art University and over 3,000 part-time instructors.

The Academy of Art wage and hour settlement pertains to over 3,00non-salaryry instructors who allege the school failed to pay them all earned wages. Superior Court Judge Curtis Karnow stated that the Academy of Art wage and hour settlement still needed some work as some of the details had not been decided.

Judge Karnow noted that the settlement website should not be password protected, and that attorneys needed to determine which organization will receive the unclaimed settlement funds. In addition, the language in the motion for the Academy of Art wage and hour settlement needed to explain why the case was worth $29 million.

“I’m confident this can be approved, but I don’t have enough on the core findings that get you to that $29 million figure. [I] have a description of the type of discovery that was done, but I don’t know what analysis of that discovery showed you,” the judge said.

Overview of Academy of Art Wage and Hour Wage and Hour Violations

The judge also pointed out that the deal’s timeline for the wage and hour claims was not very clear, and that the calculations for the Academy of Art wage and hour settlement could be better explained.

The hearing marked the final battle of the six year long litigation process, which was started by lead plaintiff Jorge Trelles’ who alleged part-time instructors were only paid hourly wages for the time they taught in classroom but not the time preparing for class.

Online instructors similarly also alleged they were not compensated for all hours worked.

Two months after Trelles filed his wage and hour lawsuit in April 2011, a separate wage and hour claim reached its conclusion and reached a $500,000 settlement. This settlement consisted of missing funds for part-time instructors who also alleged they were also missing wages.

The Academy of Art tried to resolve the instructors’ claims in arbitration, but Superior Court Judge Marla Miller denied the motion and took the matter to California Court of Appeals. However, the Superior Court had upheld the lower court’s ruling in 2014.

If the Academy of Art wage and hour settlement is approved, it would affect 3,800 instructors who taught a class on the campus or on the school’s website between April 2007 and February 2017. The settlement would provide each class member an average of $814 reward, before attorneys’ fees.

This Academy of Art Wage and Hour Lawsuit is Davidson v. Academy of Art University Foundation et al., Case No. CGC10497727, in the California Superior Court for San Francisco County.

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