Juan Monroy

One of the schools where I teach has yet to pay my wages, for one of the two classes I teach there, over the last three biweekly cycles. To put it another way, I started teaching this particular class on January 16, but as of February 22, I have yet to receive a single dime for six weeks of instruction.

I raised the issue with our department secretary, who investigated the matter on February 1. The university should have first paid me on January 25, but I did not get paid for either my first or my second class. I did however get paid for the second class, including a retroactive payment for the first missed payment, on February 8.

When I did not receive payment for the first class on February 8, I presumed that the paperwork was still in processing and that I would be made whole on February 22. I was wrong,

When I checked my online pay stub and my bank account, I found that i had only been paid for one class. I began calling an array of bureaucrats in trying to figure out why I hadn’t been paid. I began calling Human Resources at 10:00 AM, and just before 5:00, I finally received a response from an administrator who coordinates the adjunct instructors.

The message merely validated what I had told each of them: that I had not been paid in three biweekly cycles. She said that she was aware of the "issues" and someone was "looking into it". But her message did have one juicy nugget of information: "I apologize for this inconvenience and I’m am endeavoring to find out why this has occurred, not only to you, but to many adjuncts." Clearly, there are some issues with processing payroll on time, and it is likely causing some financial hardship.

I requested that I receive a check for my work by no later than Monday, February 25, a full month later than I was supposed to be first paid.

If you are an adjunct instructor in a similar position, you may consider having the New York State Department of Labor help you collect your wages. From what I understand, you just need to complete Form LS-233 and submit it to the nearest Division of Labor Standards office.