Barrall v. Board of Trustees of John A. Logan Community College

Summary

The Illinois Supreme Court held that section 3B-5 of the Public Community College Act prohibits a community college from laying off tenured faculty members and, during the statutory 24-month recall period, hiring adjunct instructors to teach courses those faculty members are competent to teach. The court concluded that adjunct instructors are “other employee[s] with less seniority” and that the statutory protection applies to individual courses rather than only full-time faculty positions. The court overruled Biggiam, affirmed the appellate court, reversed the circuit court’s dismissal, and remanded for further proceedings.

Holdings

1. Adjunct instructors are "other employee[s] with less seniority" than tenured faculty members within the meaning of section 3B-5 because they are employed for wages but do not accrue seniority, while tenured faculty members accrue seniority through continuous service.
2. The phrase "shall be employed to render a service" includes being hired to teach an individual course.
3. The rights conferred by the last sentence of section 3B-5 apply to individual courses, not merely to full-time faculty positions.
4. The Board violated section 3B-5 by employing adjunct instructors to teach courses that the tenured plaintiffs were competent to teach.

Questions Presented

1. Whether section 3B-5 of the Public Community College Act prohibits a community college board from hiring adjunct instructors to teach courses that laid-off tenured faculty members are competent to teach during the statutory 24-month recall period.
2. Whether adjunct instructors are "other employee[s] with less seniority" within the meaning of section 3B-5.
3. Whether the rights granted by the last sentence of section 3B-5 apply to individual courses or only to full-time faculty positions.
4. Whether Biggiam v. Board of Trustees of Community College District No. 516 should be overruled.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded