Former employees paid to quietly leave WSU, drop lawsuits

Wichita State University agreed to pay at least $914,000 to former employees through separation agreements signed in the past nine months.

The payments went to 12 people, including the former women’s basketball coach, an attorney for an employee who sued the university and a student dean and campus recreation director whose resignations prompted concerns from student leaders.

They also helped settle two separate lawsuits against the university citing discrimination and wrongful termination.

The Eagle asked for resignation separation agreements between WSU and former employees in the past five years through the Kansas Open Records Act.

Agreements with 11 former employees have come since October. There were only two such agreements in the four years before that.

Most of the agreements include clauses that bar former employees from discussing the terms of the agreements.

“Employee agrees that he will not provide information … which reasonably might be expected to cause employer … damage or lower their respective reputations (or) embarrass or humiliate them,” according to a nondisparagement clause included in multiple agreements.

WSU won’t talk about why any individual employee left the organization, said Lou Heldman, the vice president for strategic communications. He noted the agreements occurred with a variety of employees in different parts of the university and said other large entities may have similar figures.

“I’m not sure that there is a trend,” Heldman said. “It may just be a year where a lot happened.”

Money for the settlements comes from the university’s general operating funds, he said.

WSU’s general counsel, David Moses, said he didn’t know why there were more in separation costs in recent months.

“It’s one of those situations where it’s very difficult to talk specifics,” he said.

‘Irreparable damage to employer’

The largest settlement was with former women’s basketball coach Jody Adams-Birch, who left the program in January.

She received $250,000 through her separation agreement. She also got $23,748.92 in unused paid leave.

Her tenure, which lasted into a ninth season, featured complaints of mistreatment from players by Adams-Birch and her coaching staff.

Four players quit after the 2014-15 season, WSU’s third straight season in the NCAA Tournament. The decision came after a sophomore player decided to transfer to a Division II school, which resulted in players meeting with the athletic director to discuss the overall atmosphere of the team and players boycotting a practice, sources told The Eagle at the time.

“Employee agrees to be reasonably available to the employer or its representatives to discuss matters relating to the responsibilities she held during her employment and her knowledge of any matters that pertain to pending or threatened litigation and alleged NCAA or MVC violation,” according to her agreement.

Christine Schneikart-Luebbe, an associate vice president and dean of student life, will receive a full year of salary and benefits, amounting to $131,954. She also got $80,000 in two additional lump-sum payments and $12,178.36 in projected unused leave. That means she could get up to $224,132.36 total.

She will keep her job title and be on administrative leave for up to a year after her March 17 resignation.

Former campus recreation director Eric Maki got six months of salary and benefits, approximately $49,679.04, under his agreement with the university. He also got $7,400.29 in unused leave for a total of $57,079.33.

Their settlements include confidentiality agreements that prevent them from discussing any information on the agreement terms to “the media or any present or former students.”

Violating their confidentiality agreements would cause “immeasurable and irreparable damage to (WSU) in an amount incapable of precise determination.”

Their resignations, in particular, drew concerns from some students who said the administration was parting ways with student advocates. They also occurred during the heart of a fight over the proposed YMCA facility on the Innovation Campus, an issue that sharply divided the administration and former student leaders.

WSU’s student newspaper, The Sunflower, first reported what Adams-Birch, Schneikart-Luebbe and Maki received in separation agreements.

Other agreements

Two Environmental Health and Safety employees, Glendon Miller and Fred Plummer, agreed in October to settlements that included six months of salary and unused pay leave. Miller would get $81,885.44 and Plummer would get $47,325, according to the university.

Here are other former employees who reached separation agreements with WSU and how much they received in payments and unused leave:

▪ Kenneth Ciboski, associate professor: $47,797.80

▪ Yolonda Adams, operations and finance director: $27,731.54

▪ Alan Snyder, technical marketing director: $18,474.71

▪ Cynthia Wedel, administrative assistant: $7,407.08

Those four agreements, signed in February or March, included additional pay for unused leave time. They also included confidentiality and non-disparagement clauses.

Lawsuits

WSU also paid at least $142,100 to resolve two lawsuits filed against the university last year.

James Pulliam, the former chief information officer, sued the university in March 2016 under Title VII, saying he was fired in retaliation for objecting to racially and sexually explicit language used by David Wright, the university’s chief data officer.

Pulliam agreed to “forego litigation of the dispute,” according to the agreement he signed on May 16. He will receive $100,000 through the agreement.

Vicki Huntoon, a former administrative assistant, filed a lawsuit last October accusing the university of discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Her lawsuit said she was fired because of her general anxiety disorder after she had requested to work in a quieter department multiple times and was not transferred.

Huntoon received a $29,190 check through her agreement with the university to dismiss her lawsuit. James Kaup, her attorney during the case, received a $12,910 check.

Moses said that, in most situations, “everyone is better off” if a case can be resolved at an early stage. He said reaching a settlement has a variety of “economic and non-economic” factors.

“We were able to reach a mutual agreement that both parties felt was fair under the circumstances,” he said. “There’s value in closure and finality.”

This story was originally published June 15, 2017 at 5:42 PM with the headline "Former employees paid to quietly leave WSU, drop lawsuits."