Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Temple Student Strike Turns Ugly as School Ends Some Tuition Aid

phillymag.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 265 posts

Re: Temple Student Strike Turns Ugly as School Ends Some Tuition Aid

#11

Post by akavi »

TillE wrote: post #5

As various lawyers have commented on Twitter, this seems like an insanely blatant violation of labor laws. Just a straight up written confession of illegal retaliation. Unless they have some obscure exemption that nobody else knows about, I cannot imagine how the university's legal counsel signed off on this.

Are companies not allowed to stop paying wages to striking employees? Or is it that tuition remission is viewed as distinct from wages legally?

Re: Temple Student Strike Turns Ugly as School Ends Some Tuition Aid

#13

Post by klyrs »

willcipriano wrote: post #7
ro_bit wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This isn't a halting of paychecks during the strike. Tuition remission is awarded at the beginning of each semester a student is working. This would be like clawing back a signing bonus made to workers before a strike action, which from a cursory google search seems to be legally ambiguous at best.

They arent working this semester, you can't take a signing bonus then not show up for work.

> you can't take a signing bonus then not show up for work.

You can if your union goes on strike between you getting your signing bonus and your start date. Striking is not the same as quitting in the eyes of the law.

Re: Temple Student Strike Turns Ugly as School Ends Some Tuition Aid

#14

Post by pwinnski »

willcipriano wrote: post #7
ro_bit wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This isn't a halting of paychecks during the strike. Tuition remission is awarded at the beginning of each semester a student is working. This would be like clawing back a signing bonus made to workers before a strike action, which from a cursory google search seems to be legally ambiguous at best.

They arent working this semester, you can't take a signing bonus then not show up for work.

If you are part of a strike, then yes, actually, you are legally protected against some forms of retaliation, including possibly this form. We'll see how it plays out in court, but it is by no means as simple as you're laying out. This is not "people decided to not show up for work," it's a collective bargaining action against a very clearly hostile employer.

Re: Temple Student Strike Turns Ugly as School Ends Some Tuition Aid

#16

Post by juujian »

shishy wrote: post #9

Bone headed move. They must have miscalculated if they think the students will cave to this pressure. Also, how can they take away tuition reimbursement for the whole semester if the strike hasnt been that long? Garbage administration. I hope the students win and that this isnt the new normal.

If there is any group that is unlikely to back down and fold it's probably students. Of course the university also has an endowment of $873 million and whatever administrator wrote that must have a very cushy job. This seems really poorly thought out.

Re: Temple Student Strike Turns Ugly as School Ends Some Tuition Aid

#17

Post by ro_bit »

willcipriano wrote: post #7
ro_bit wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This isn't a halting of paychecks during the strike. Tuition remission is awarded at the beginning of each semester a student is working. This would be like clawing back a signing bonus made to workers before a strike action, which from a cursory google search seems to be legally ambiguous at best.

They arent working this semester, you can't take a signing bonus then not show up for work.

Striking is not the same as quitting. If negotiations were ratified next week, workers would return and could not face retaliation in benefits or pay for striking. The university could withhold pay for missed shifts during the strike and potentially clawback a prorated portion of the remission at best, but clawing back remissions in their entirety and charging late fees for not paying by a deadline is bad faith and won't be looked upon fondly by the NRLB. While the decision will likely end up being made by a court, to me this definitely seems like illegal retaliation and not a case of students biting off more than they could chew.

Re: Temple Student Strike Turns Ugly as School Ends Some Tuition Aid

#18

Post by [deleted] »

akavi wrote: post #11
TillE wrote: post #5

As various lawyers have commented on Twitter, this seems like an insanely blatant violation of labor laws. Just a straight up written confession of illegal retaliation. Unless they have some obscure exemption that nobody else knows about, I cannot imagine how the university's legal counsel signed off on this.

Are companies not allowed to stop paying wages to striking employees? Or is it that tuition remission is viewed as distinct from wages legally?

[deleted]

Re: Temple Student Strike Turns Ugly as School Ends Some Tuition Aid

#20

Post by vuln »

bjourne wrote: post #12

If waived tuition fees is part of the graduate students benefits do they have to include it in their tax declarations? Do they pay tax on this "benefit"?

> Free or reduced tuition provided by eligible educational institutions to its employees may be excludable from gross income as a qualified tuition reduction. Whether a tuition reduction is a “qualified” tuition reduction and excludable from income depends on whether it is for education below or at the graduate level and whether the tuition reduction represents payment for services.

https://www.irs.gov/government-entities/federal-state-local-...

Post reply on HN