Boston University Fails to Pay Graduate Students on Time Following March 2024 Strike, Class Action Lawsuit Claims

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A proposed class action lawsuit alleges Boston University has consistently failed to pay graduate student workers on time.

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According to the 12-page lawsuit, BU graduate students can perform compensable work for the private research university, such as lab work, research, and undergraduate teaching or grading assistance, for a fixed service stipend ranging from about $25,000 to $45,000 per year. However, in response to a graduate student worker strike that began in March 2024, BU hastily and haphazardly implemented a new compensation policy that has since resulted in many students getting their service stipends weeks or even months late, the case claims.

The complaint says the Boston University Graduate Workers Union (BUGWU) had conducted negotiations with BU over several months after forming in December 2022 to improve working conditions and compensation for graduate students. Negotiations were unsuccessful, the filing shares, and BUGWU’s membership voted to commence a strike on March 25, 2024.

Participation in the strike was not significant, and an estimated 80 percent of graduate students returned to work by late April 2024, the case describes.

“Still, BU was determined to break the union,” the lawsuit alleges.

Per the complaint, BU subsequently announced that graduate students would be required to submit weekly written “attestations” that they performed compensable work in order to get paid. The suit claims the university’s implementation of the attestations process was rushed and “without regard for statutory requirements concerning the payment of wages.”

For example, the case says, BU had no system in place for graduate student workers who filed their attestations late.

“Instead, graduate student workers who failed to timely submit attestations were required to obtain an attestation from their faculty advisor in order to get paid,” the Boston University lawsuit reads. “If a graduate student performed work but failed to submit an attestation and could not obtain a faculty attestation, BU would simply not pay that student.”

The plaintiff, a doctoral student in BU’s bioinformatics program who continued to work throughout the strike, claims she did not receive compensation for five pay periods in April and May 2024. The suit relays that the university eventually modified its attestation program in response to the late payment issues that were affecting the plaintiff and numerous other graduate student workers, and she was finally issued her missing stipend payments on July 9, 2024.

“Notwithstanding the changes made to the attestation process, BU continues to pay many graduate student workers ‘late’ when, e.g., they fail to submit an attestation on time,” the complaint contends.

The case accuses BU and its president, Dr. Melissa L. Gilliam, of violating the Massachusetts Wage Act, which requires employers to pay workers all wages earned on a weekly or bi-weekly basis.

The lawsuit looks to represent anyone who has performed services as a graduate student worker in connection with a graduate degree program at BU and who has failed to timely receive payment of any portion of a service stipend at any time since March 25, 2024.

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