The members of Certificated Hourly Instructors (CHI) Faculty Association,
representing part-time faculty at Long Beach City College (LBCC), scored a victory at the bargaining table following their successful lawsuit regarding minimum wage and hour laws.

This landmark decision established that LBCC must pay part-time faculty for all
hours worked, and that current pay rates do not and have not met the minimum wage threshold for non-exempt employees. With the power of the legal victory, CHI won new salary schedule pay rates equivalent to a full-time parity factor of 51% (up from 42%). Across the salary schedule, this means an average 8.94% salary increase, with the lowest paid part-time faculty seeing a pay increase of
more than 15% retroactive to August 2025.

This victory is in addition to a large settlement for part-time faculty in back-owed wages that will be dispersed in the coming months. CHI demanded to bargain the impacts and effects of this ruling to ensure the pay rates follow the law.

“CHI has successfully contractualized the road to pay parity between full-time and part-time faculty at LBCC,” CHI President Crystal Mejia-Huckabee said. “CHI is taking on the fight and making progress towards equal pay for equal work! This is only the beginning.”