The University of Washington has agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit over faculty salaries. The case claimed that the UW's decision not to grant a general salary increase to its faculty in May 2002 had violated a salary policy adopted two years earlier.
If the tentative settlement is approved by the King County Superior Court, eligible faculty members will receive a two percent salary increase and a share of a negotiated one-time payment of $17.45 million for back pay and interest. The cash payment will also be used to pay the plaintiffs' attorneys' fees and other expenses. The amount individual eligible faculty members receive will be based on their total earnings since 2002.

The one time payment will come from the UW's unrestricted fund balance -- money that has accumulated over time from unrestricted investment income and indirect cost revenue. No state appropriated funds or tuition revenue are involved.

The salary policy at the heart of the case was adopted in 2000. It states that the UW will grant "meritorious" faculty members a minimum salary increase of two percent each year. The policy became an issue in 2002, when the state legislature did not provide any funds for a salary increase and the University concluded it could not afford to pay general raises from other sources. Although the faculty salary policy contains a "funding caution" regarding the need for legislative funding, Superior Court Judge Mary Yu ruled last October that University was bound by the policy and was obligated to provide the two percent increase.