Boston University administration appealed an arbitrator’s decision May 19, which ruled it violated its contract agreement with the union representing resident assistants on campus. 

The University appealed after the union filed a grievance accusing the University of rejecting the arbitrator’s award defending RAs’ rights to additional on-campus employment opportunities.

The appeal follows months of disagreement between BU Residence Life and the Service Employees International Union Local 509 over whether ResLife employees can hold additional on-campus positions. The union and the Univeristy split the cost to hire an arbitrator Timothy Taylor, an impartial mediator who deals with civil disputes outside the court system, to settle the grievance. 

The arbitrator ultimately said BU could not restrict an RA’s ability to receive compensation from other on-campus employment April 20. BU appealed and requested the District Court of Massachusetts to vacate the arbitrator award, which would force the University to stop enforcing a 20-hour work week for RAs.

BU ResLife declined to give a statement because they “do not comment on labor matters,” BU spokesperson Rachel Lapal Cavallario wrote in a statement to The Daily Free Press.

Former ResLife employee and SEIU 509 member Jasmine Richardson said the ResLife union’s current three-year contract, ratified Sept. 1, 2024, permits RAs to hold other on-campus positions. 

“We wanted to have our work [as RAs] designated as being a more time-consuming opportunity,” Richardson said. “But we also negotiated to make sure that our other opportunities for employment on campus wouldn’t be compromised.”

In spring 2025, BU announced that RAs would be blocked from receiving compensation for other on-campus employment. The union almost immediately filed its initial grievance following the announcement, Richardson said. 

In April 2026, Taylor decided BU had breached article 12 under its agreement with SEIU 509. Article 12.1 states that ResLife employees cannot be “compelled or pressured” to work over an average 20 hours per week while classes are in session, according to the union agreement.

In Taylor’s arbitration award, he concluded BU “cannot prohibit bargaining unit members from working more than 20 hours per week in other University jobs,” but the award does not “entitle RAs to additional employment with the University.” BU also still has “full discretion to decide whom to hire and whom to award fellowships,” the award states. 

Despite a clause in the agreement between BU and SEIU 509 stating any arbitrator award would be “final and binding,” BU’s Associate Director for Student Development, Maggie Sawada, and Director of Residence Life, Hilary Caron, emailed the union stating they will not approve additional work requests as they “ensure any next steps are handled correctly.”

SEIU 509 then filed another grievance May 8, stating BU continued to “implement and communicate the grieved actions” but were now also “not abiding by the final and binding decision of the Arbitrator,” according to a letter sent to BU ResLife’s central admin and David Ossam, the director of labor relations at BU.

BU denied and appealed the arbitration decision shortly after. In an email to an SEIU 509 representative Sawada stated the second grievance was denied because the University was “acting within its contractual and legal rights” and had not “violated articles 12, 16, or any other provision of the Agreement.” 

Articles 12 and 16 of the current Collective Bargaining Agreement between the 509 union and the BU ResLife Unit regard the workload and scheduling of RAs and the process of disputes between the parties, respectively. 

The University’s attorneys filed a Complaint and Petition to Vacate Arbitration Award, in which they said that BU has had a policy since June 2020 which states that “students enrolled in a program should not work more than 20 hours per week while attending classes.” 

The legal team further explains that the policy was also applied to ResLife employees through Memoranda of Understanding, documents issued and signed by the RAs to outline the goals and requirements of their employment. Along with a 20-hour work week, the Memoranda establish that RAs are expected to make their work their “highest non-academic priority” and to not make “significant additional time commitments” without approval. 

BU’s attorneys also claim in the complaint that the arbitrator made “internally and logically inconsistent findings in the award,” such as by deciding BU had the discretion to choose who could be hired for on-campus jobs but not the authority to prohibit RAs from working more than 20 hours each week for the University.

Taylor could not be reached for comment.

Richardson said the inability of ResLife employees to work other on-campus jobs had to do with pay rather than managing a balance between work and academics. 

“I had a small ambassador job on campus and I wasn’t allowed to be paid for it, but I did receive permission to do the work for it,” she said. “It’s not an issue of workload, it’s compensation that’s the problem.” 

Richardson said she had to turn down an offer for a highly selective and “prestigious” on-campus fellowship because it was a paid position.

Another ResLife employee and SEIU 509 member, Gunand Thind, said she had to step away from a receptionist position after becoming an RA. 

She said she was confused over why compensation for other on-campus roles was only taken away after the ResLife employees unionized. 

“I’m contributing so much to BU,” Thind said. “It sucks that BU doesn’t want to pay it back to me.”

Richardson said the union hopes to understand why BU decided to appeal, stating that the University’s claim that the arbitrator made the wrong decision was “odd grounds for them to stand on” given the arbitrator’s “very strong reputation.” 

“We’re sort of in a waiting game now,” Richardson said. “We absolutely are fighting this appeal, but we expect BU to drag their feet.” 

This article was updated Thursday at 10:57 am to correct a detail that falsely claimed the union paid for the arbitrator, when in reality, BU and the union split the cost. 

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