Long Beach City College faculty win landmark ruling for adjunct faculty pay 

By Jessica Silver-Sharp

In February of this year, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Stuart Rice ruled that Long Beach Community College (LBCC) District adjunct faculty must receive pay for all hours worked outside the classroom including lecture prep, grading and meeting with students. (Read the full case here.)

L to R: Karen Roberts & Seija Rohkea. Photo by Sofia Hopkins, Long Beach City College Viking News

Back in 2022, Long Beach adjunct faculty members Karen Roberts (Art History) and Seija Rohkea (Art) filed a lawsuit over LBCC’s failure to pay adjunct community college faculty at the legally required minimum wage. Their case laid out in detail the extensive and time consuming duties beyond paid class time that adjunct faculty regularly work for free.

In 2024, the lawsuit was expanded to a class action to apply to the 900 other impacted adjunct faculty in the district. According to an article from Inside Higher Ed, Judge “Rice stayed the decision pending further proceedings, so it doesn’t go into effect immediately. A similar lawsuit is under way in Sacramento County, brought by adjuncts against 22 community college districts, as well as the state community college system and its Board of Governors.”

AFT 1493 applauds the Long Beach union activists from their CHI local for their courage and more than three years of perseverance in fighting for just wages for themselves and their colleagues. We hope this lawsuit will have far reaching positive consequences for Californa’s approximately 37,000 adjunct faculty!