Storti v. University of Washington

¶1 At issue is whether a university may suspend an annual merit-based raise when the university’s *31promise warned faculty that the raise scheme may be reevaluated in response to changing financial conditions. Petitioners, a class of University of Washington (U.W. or the university) professors, allege that this suspension breached a unilateral contract they held with the university because the professors had substantially performed meritorious work in the year the policy was suspended and therefore were entitled to a raise in the following year. Alternatively, petitioners contend that res…