EVANSVILLE — A class action lawsuit has been filed against Oakland City University (OCU) in federal court, alleging that the institution failed to pay its employees for several weeks leading up to a massive campus shutdown.
The complaint was filed on June 1, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana in Evansville by Chelsea Price, a Monroe County resident employed by the university as a soccer coach and in other roles. Price filed the suit on behalf of herself and all other similarly affected university employees.
According to court documents, the university abruptly laid off the majority of its staff at the end of May. By that time, employees had already gone weeks without receiving their regular paychecks. As of June 8, six additional individuals had formally filed consents to join Price as plaintiffs in the burgeoning lawsuit.
The lawsuit seeks the recovery of unpaid, federally mandated wages covering the period from April 27 through June 1, 2026.
According to the complaint, university administration repeatedly promised Price and other staff members that they would receive their back pay, but failed to distribute the funds. Frustrated workers were reportedly still waiting on their missing wages well after their official termination dates.
The legal claim relies on both federal and state protections, asserting that Oakland City University “acted in bad faith and certainly were not complying with the Indiana Wage Payment Statute in good faith.”
Represented by attorney Robert J. Hunt of Carmel, Indiana, the plaintiffs are seeking:
- Full recovery of all unpaid back wages
- Maximum available treble (triple) damages under state labor laws
- Full coverage of attorney fees, court costs, and legal expenses
The payroll collapse follows months of escalating financial instability at the private, Baptist-affiliated university.
In April 2026, OCU issued a formal WARN (Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification) alert to its workforce, signaling that widespread layoffs were imminent. Weeks later, the university announced a drastic restructuring plan: it will completely suspend all traditional undergraduate programs for the upcoming 2026–2027 academic term.
While the physical campus has essentially been cleared, university officials previously indicated that OCU intends to keep its online graduate degree programs operational. Representatives for Oakland City University have not yet issued a formal public response to the federal wage theft allegations.
