Opinion ID: 2456
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Plaintiff's Continued Work as an Academic Advisor

Text: After plaintiffs employment ended on December 30, 2002, the ILR School instructed the two students she had been advising to locate an alternate academic advisor. After the students protested, Associate Dean Martin determined, after consulting with Dean Lawler, that plaintiff could continue to chair the students' honor theses if all the parties consented to that arrangement. Plaintiff thus continued to serve as an academic advisor to the two students. In May 2003, she submitted an invoice to Dean Lawler for services performed, totaling $25,000, at a rate of approximately $2,000 per day. By letter dated May 21, 2003, Dean Lawler denied plaintiffs request for payment, stating that the ILR School did not offer financial compensation to an instructor for the activities that plaintiff had performed and that he would have informed her of the same before she undertook those activities had she asked at the time. Specifically, Dean Lawler explained: [O]ur policy in ILR is to permit teachers who leave the University to continue their services on theses, if they wish and the student agrees. We do not offer any financial compensation to an instructor for time spent on such activity, although we have generally paid travel expenses for an instructor to attend a student's defense. The ILR School did reimburse plaintiffs travel expenses pursuant to Dean Lawler's representation.