After spending the latter half of June promising money for missing paychecks was imminent – and even assigning specific dates for its arrival – Oakland City University still hasn’t compensated laid-off employees who have now gone two months without pay.
In a series of emails obtained by the Courier & Press, President Ron Dempsey previously claimed two major sources of funding would arrive within days.
The first, which the school had been teasing since early May, was supposed to come courtesy of an unnamed donor. After a delay due to the Juneteenth banking holiday, that money − which Dempsey previously pegged as at least $1 million − would hit OCU coffers by June 22, he said. Meanwhile, another $4 million, this time from an unnamed investor group making a down payment on a carbon capture patent the school owns, would come two days later on June 24.
Dempsey subsequently pushed those back to June 23 and June 25, respectively. But the money never materialized. And as of Monday, the school hadn’t offered any new deadlines.
“It’s obvious the university is ignoring its employees,” a former OCU staffer, who asked to remain anonymous, told the Courier & Press on Monday. “We are deeply disappointed in the OCU administration over the lack of pay and communication.”
A vast majority of OCU employees fell victim to a mass layoff the school implemented May 31 amid a litany of financial woes. However, according to former faculty and staff, the university owes them paychecks through at least June 18.
On Monday, the former staffer called for the Indiana attorney general’s office to investigate. The Courier & Press reached out to both the AG’s office and Dempsey for comment.
Dempsey didn’t respond. Slayde Settle, director of media for Todd Rokita, replied Monday afternoon and said she’d send the question on to “the team.”
Multiple lawsuits ongoing
Meanwhile, multiple current and former employees have either filed or joined lawsuits against the school.
A federal class-action suit launched in U.S. District Court on June 1 now counts 20 claimants. According to court records, a pretrial conference is set for Aug. 25 at 9:30 a.m.
James Wilder, a former marketing assistant in donor relations, also filed a suit for unpaid wages, this time in Gibson Superior Court. OCU was supposed to respond to the complaint by July 9, records show, but Indianapolis attorney Weston Overturf filed an enlargement of time request on June 22 on behalf of the university. That would stretch OCU’s deadline to early August.
No hearing dates had been filed as of Monday.
This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Missed paychecks: Ex-OCU employees have now gone 2 months without pay
Reporting by Jon Webb, Evansville Courier & Press / Evansville Courier & Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Jon Webb, Evansville Courier & Press | USA TODAY Network
