Bill seeks $1 million for UWM business professor
Smunt might sue state if GOP proposal fails
Weeks after the state’s financial claims board denied a University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee business professor’s $1 million-plus compensation complaint, a senator has proposed a bill that would pay him the full amount.
That is if the bill passes. If it fails, the legislation could pave the way for UWM professor Timothy Smunt to sue the state for money he says he should have earned through his employee contract.
Sen. Alberta Darling, R-River Hills, introduced a bill Friday that would appropriate $1,039,134 in University of Wisconsin System funds to compensate the former Lubar School of Business dean, who has spent three years arguing that the university breached his contract and low-balled his salary after he transitioned into his current faculty role.
Darling’s bill is under consideration in the Senate’s Committee on Government Operations, Technology and Consumer Protection.
The professor’s argument hasn’t seen much support from the state in the past.
In May, the five-member State of Wisconsin Claims Board, which reviews monetary claims against the state, denied Smunt’s petition, saying the state is not liable and that the issue should be handled in court.
The claims board includes one representative each from the state Department of Justice, Department of Administration, the governor’s office, the Senate and the Assembly. The board meets about four times a year to review cases.
Darling’s spokesman, Bob Delaporte, said the senator proposed the bill because Smunt is one of her constituents.
Delaporte said Tuesday such bills to help constituents are “just a part of being a legislator.”
He added that if the bill fails, the
attempt would at least allow Smunt to seek legal action.
While the claims board does not often deal with contract disputes, those familiar with the process say many issues that land on the board’s roster take the path Smunt’s is, making their way into the Legislature as proposed bills and then bouncing back to the courts after the bills don’t pass.
That’s because under a legal doctrine called sovereign immunity, a person can’t sue the State of Wisconsin without the state’s consent to be subject to the courts’ jurisdiction. In one 1999 Wisconsin Court of Appeals case, Brown v. State, the court ruled Irene Brown couldn’t sue the state for a contract violation until the state claims board denied her and a bill failed in the Legislature.
UWM spokeswoman Michelle Johnson said the university was not aware of Darling’s bill prior to a Journal Sentinel inquiry.
“UW-Milwaukee has met all of its contractual obligations to Professor Smunt and the State Claims Board rejected his claims,” Johnson said. “Given the possibility of additional litigation, we cannot comment further.”
Smunt’s saga actually began in the court system in 2016, when he sued the UW System for nearly $800,000.
A Milwaukee County Circuit Court judge dismissed that lawsuit on procedural grounds in June 2016, pointing him to the state claims board. Smunt appealed the decision.
He ultimately voluntarily withdrew the case in January 2017 and later filed the claim with the board.
In May, the board considered Smunt’s claim, which by then had risen about $200,000. Smunt told the board that UWM failed to base his salary on a survey from the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, a stipulation he said was in his contract.
According to court documents, Smunt made $306,030 in 2015, his last year as dean. He made $239,531 in the 2017-18 school year, according to the Journal Sentinel’s UW System salary database.
The professor also said his contract promised him a “priority recommendation” for a distinguished professorship, but UWM did not adequately follow through on that when it nominated him alongside several others.
His final claim was that the university placed a salary cap on his retirement benefits that was not in line with his contract.
UWM recommended in May that the board deny Smunt’s claim, arguing that the salary survey was only one data point in the school’s salary calculation.
University representatives also told the board Smunt’s contract only said the university would “make every effort” to request the distinguished professorship — not that it would guarantee he would receive one — and that the salary cap on his retirement contributions was in line with a limit set by the Internal Revenue Service.
Smunt responded to the Journal Sentinel’s request for an interview with a statement through his lawyer.
“Dr. Smunt looks forward to resolution regarding his employment contract dispute with UWM, and has no further comment at this time,” attorney Aaron Halstead said.