More than 20 University of the Arts staffers file dueling lawsuits over school’s abrupt closure

The legal fallout from the University of the Arts’ abrupt closure began Wednesday as more than 20 employees sued the school in a pair of lawsuits, saying it failed to provide sufficient notice that they’d be losing their jobs.

The plaintiffs — a group of professors, department heads, administrators, and support staff from the nearly 150-year-old institution — say the school, in announcing its decision to permanently shutter its doors within a week, violated a federal law that requires employers to give 60 days’ written notice to workers of any plans for mass layoffs.

They’re seeking two months’ pay as well as money to cover accrued vacation time and health benefits over the same period and have asked a federal judge overseeing both cases to grant class-action status to the litigation.

The lawsuits — filed within hours of each other in federal court in Philadelphia — could be just the first in a wave of messy court battles to come from students, staff, and state regulators following the university’s sudden announcement that it would permanently close on Friday, citing declining revenue and enrollment. They also exposed simmering tensions over who will lead the legal battles to come.

The first suit, filed late Tuesday by Newtown-based labor attorney Eric Lechtzin, counted nine University of the Arts staff members among his plaintiffs — only one of whom is represented by its faculty union. It asked the court to name him lead counsel should the case be granted class-action status.

But by Wednesday afternoon, union attorneys filed a separate suit on behalf of 11 union members and one member of management, arguing they were better equipped to lead any such class and asking the court to appoint them as the primary lawyers to represent all university employees instead. The union represents about 450 members of the university’s roughly 800-member staff.

“We are in a better position to assert the rights of workers, many of which are our bargaining members,” said Bradley Philbert, an adjunct professor at the university and executive vice president for United Academics of Philadelphia, Local 9608 of the American Federation of Teachers. “Further, any negotiations over the … matter will touch on collective bargaining issues.”

Attorneys in both lawsuits touted their connections to the university and its community. Lechtzin, in an interview Wednesday, said his godfather was a professor at the university and his family has long-standing ties to the arts community. Ryan A. Hancock, one of three attorneys leading the union’s lawsuit, is a University of the Arts alumnus, the union said in a statement.

Despite the apparent competition between lawyers, both lawsuits sought roughly the same goals and argued their cases on similar legal grounds.

Under a federal law known as the WARN Act, employers are required to alert staff of any plans for mass layoffs due to closure no later than 60 days before such a decision takes effect. Companies that violate the law can be ordered by a court to cover employees’ wages and benefits for that period.

The law carves out some exceptions for instances in which an employer was actively seeking money to keep its business afloat and where news of an impending shutdown would have frustrated that effort.

But Lechtzin said he’s seen no evidence that would absolve the university of its WARN Act obligations. He said he felt compelled to file his lawsuit quickly after hearing from people at all levels — deans, professors, and administrative and maintenance staff — that even their basic questions about the impending closure have gone unanswered.

“They don’t know when they’re going to receive their final paycheck,” he said. “They don’t know when their benefits are going to terminate. … This is obviously a crisis situation and appears to be a situation that reflects a complete failure of the UArts leadership.”

He maintained that lack of clarity was even more severe for his nonunion plaintiffs.

“They have no representation,” he said. “They have nobody to speak for them. They are literally in the dark here.”

News of the University of the Arts’ planned closure within a week, which came in a late Friday announcement from president Kerry Walk, caught students, staff, and the Philadelphia higher education community off guard. Many faculty, staff, students, and families learned of the news not from the school, but from an Inquirer article.

Walk resigned her position Tuesday, the same day the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office said it was reviewing the circumstances of the closure and “any transfer or loss of assets” in violation of state laws.

And although Temple University has announced it is exploring the possibility of a merger to keep the arts institution afloat, Temple’s board chair Mitchell L. Morgan, who is spearheading that effort, said Tuesday he was surprised the University of the Arts had not reached out earlier to explore such possibilities before announcing its decision to close.

University officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday on either lawsuit, continuing the silence they’ve largely maintained for days.

In a statement sent to students and staff Wednesday morning — the first official communication from leadership since the announcement of the impending closure — Judson Aaron, chairman of the university’s board, acknowledged that the news had been “devastating for every member of the community.”

“We recognize that you have many questions,” he said, “and we will share more information as this process continues.”

» READ MORE: University of the Arts board hires management firm to close university; faculty plan mid-morning protest

In addition to its lawsuit, the faculty union on Wednesday filed an Unfair Labor Practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board over university leadership’s failure to hold negotiations over closure terms.

“The cruelty around this ongoing lack of communication from their employer remains disturbing, and the university instead communicates in the media rather than with their community,” union leaders said in a statement. “Workers at the University of the Arts deserve answers, pay for work completed, and clarity on severance and benefits.”