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A Victory in Court: Read it and Laugh
by Rita Maran
In 1994 I was hired by the Director of the Townsend Center for the
Humanities at UC Berkeley as Associate Director of the new Human Rights
Program. Since the offer was verbal I asked for a letter of appointment.
When none came by February, I wrote a memo of understanding accepting
both the offer and the salary, and began to work that April.
A year later, while paying my 1994 taxes, I realized I had been paid
$1768.24 less than promised and so informed the Townsend Center Advisory
Meetures and turned the matter over to the Center's Administrator. The
Administrator then wrote me that, including benefits, I had actually been
paid $4765.61 more than had been agreed, but of course, benefits are always
figured in addition to wages.
I don't know why I was underpaid. Perhaps it was because I'm a woman,
because I'm older, because I'm junior faculty in a marginalized department,
or it may have started out as an innocent error. In any case. however small
the amount, it is unacceptable that UC should brush off someone's honest
claim. My field is Human Rights Law; how could I look at myself in the
mirror every morning if I parked the fine theories in the classroom and
failed to seek justice in the workplace?
So I again contacted to the Director, saying that I needed to know the
University's procedure for resolving such matters. He first asked for a delay
while he went on vacation and then, in August, suggested I contact the
Academic Personnel Manager and the Ombudsman to start a Grievance
Procedure.
Step I of the GP: In October I met yet again with the Director of the
Townsend Center. He again agreed with my salary calculations but asked
that we meet another time to resolve other minor differences. He said he
would write to me about this. He didn't.
Step II: The matter then passed into the hands of the Academic
Personnel Manager who approved three delays requested by the University
Administration over the course of several months. In February, 1996, after
the third deadline had passed with no response, I delivered a letter to her
pointing this out. That went unanswered as well.
Step III: I then wrote and sent copies of the file to Carol Christ, Vice
Chancellor and Provost, by certified mail, twice. I pointed out to her that
the authority to which I appealed was the same body that repeatedly delayed
the proceedings, leaving me nowhere to appeal the delays. She also failed to
respond.
In March 1996, having gone through the Grievance Procedure without
any response from the University, I filed in Berkeley Small Claims Court for
$2763.20 and was given a court date on April 4, 1996. My claim was for the
amount owed plus interest and expenses but included nothing for my time. It
was apparently the first such Small Claims action against the University.
When I came to court on April 4th I was told there was a continuance,
though I had not received the requisite notice of it. When I insisted, I was
shown the University's request which was from the Office of Risk
Management. Their letter to the court stated "...we are attempting to resolve
the matter internally." Our next court date was April 24th.
I heard nothing from the University until 5:30 PM on April 23rd when
Ms. Debra Harrington of the Personnel Office called. She said she was
relieved to have found my number in the phone book (it's on every one of my
letters and the Townsend Center has it too) because she had an offer for me:
$2400. When I asked why the offer was lower than the amount I had claimed
she said that the Regents would have to approve anything larger. I said I
would see her tomorrow, in court.
Next morning no one from the University showed up. The judge first
told me that there was another continuance and then said that the case could
not be heard because the file had disappeared. Twenty minutes later he
returned to the courtroom where I waited with several WAGE members; he
heard my case based on the documents I had with me and found in my favor. I
stated for the record that I wanted my vacation and retirement records
corrected and also asked that the settlement not be allowed to prejudice
my future employment at UC.
One day later I received a judgment in the mail for the full amount of
my claim. I then wrote to the University giving them until May 25, 1996, to
pay before additional interest would be due and also bringing to their
attention the need to correct my vacation and retirement accounts. The
check arrived on May 24th, but with it was a release that in effect asked me
to give up any adjustment of my vacation and retirement pay. That issue is
yet to be resolved.
I'm left wondering if anyone at UC ever read my letters, but I certainly
feel better when it comes to looking in the mirror in the morning.
-wage@wage.org-