TCS Hall at Carnegie Melon University
PITTSBURGH – Carnegie Melon University faces a lawsuit claiming it owes a former professor more than $1.4 million for classes he taught over an eight-year period.
Edward Barr sued CMU late last month in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas, claiming he is owed money for teaching on top of the salary he collected while working as communication coach for the Master of Science in Computational Finance program at the Tepper School of Business.
He taught 16 classes a year while communications coach but did not know until recently that he did not have to. CMU “intentionally concealed the information” that he should have been paid for doing so, the suit says.
“Plaintiff was entitled to and should have been paid $12,000 for each of the classes he taught each semester which should have been paid in equal, bi-weekly payments during the semester in which the classes were taught,” the suit says.
“As of the date of filing of this complaint, CMU owes Plaintiff a total of $1,440,000 for the classes he taught…”
Barr was a 30-year employee at CMU who worked as chief marketing officer and adjunct professor until 2017, when he joined the MSCF program. He now realizes that as a coach, teaching wasn’t one of his responsibilities and that other coaches did not teach.
If they did, they were paid, he says. Barr resigned on Aug. 1 and is suing for violation of Pennsylvania’s Wage Payment and Collection Law and unjust enrichment.
George Farneth II represents Barr.
