Suit over UW wage freeze dismissed

The University of Washington has prevailed in a legal dispute over faculty pay raises.

King County Superior Court Judge Carol Schapira on Friday dismissed a lawsuit filed by Peter Nye, an associate professor of business at the Bothell campus. Nye claimed the UW breached its contract last year when it suspended annual 2 percent faculty raises.

The UW argued that President Mark Emmert holds the authority to suspend raises, and that the university had followed correct procedures by first consulting with faculty and getting the pay freeze endorsed by the Board of Regents.

In a court declaration, Emmert said the state slashed UW funding in 2009-11 by $214 million, prompting the university to eliminate more than 700 staff and faculty positions.

"Even after the injection of $24.7 million in one-time federal stimulus funds and significant tuition increases, the university had to cut its budget by more than 12 percent," Emmert said. "In response to the budget crisis, I initiated a re-evaluation" of the order that grants the raises.

Under dispute was the level of faculty input into the wage freeze. Nye pointed out that the Faculty Senate never voted to endorse the freeze. But the UW argued it didn't need such a vote, and the changes had been endorsed by then-Senate Chairman David Lovell.

Emmert's wage freeze will last for two years, after which time faculty again will be eligible for annual 2 percent merit increases. At stake in the lawsuit was about $6 million in raises this academic year.

"We still feel very strongly about the case. We don't agree with the decision rendered on Friday, and are considering our options," said attorney Rick Gautschi, who represented Nye. Gautschi said there's been no decision on whether to appeal.

The case has similarities to an earlier case over pay raises that faculty won. In 2006, the UW agreed to a $17.5 million settlement with faculty after a judge found the UW had violated its own policy by not awarding an annual merit increase to most of its 3,000 faculty members in the 2002-03 academic year.

In the previous case, however, the UW imposed the pay freeze without first consulting faculty or getting a vote from regents.

Both cases hinge on a decade-old agreement that grants faculty minimum merit raises of 2 percent each year, with the aim of keeping UW salaries competitive. Almost all faculty qualify for the raises each year.

Nick Perry: 206-515-5639 or nperry@seattletimes.com