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Since several top-level administrators at Wright State were suspended 17 months ago, our I-Team has covered unfolding controversies at the university.
Wright State University’s research arm has agreed to pay $13,209 to settle a lawsuit brought by fired administrator Ryan Fendley, who claimed Wright State Applied Research Corporation failed to pay him under a contract that was in addition to his full-time job.
WSARC also dismissed a counter-suit it filed against Fendley alleging he hid his involvement in a potentially criminal temporary work visa scheme when he signed the contract.
The settlement agreement, signed by Fendley and WSARC CEO Dennis Andersh last month and obtained by this newspaper Tuesday, says both parties deny the other’s claims.
But it continues, “the parties desire to avoid the further costs of continuing their dispute,” and agreed to the settlement.
Court records say both sides will pay their own attorney’s fees and court costs.
Neither WSU officials nor Fendley’s attorney returned calls for comment Tuesday.
The settlement includes a clause preventing either side from disclosing or discussing its terms, though WSARC is a public entity affiliated with Wright State so it had to release the record under Ohio public records law.
Fendley’s suit had sought $32,583. That was the amount he said he was owed under a May 2014 consulting agreement under which he was paid $5,000 a month, then $3,900 a month, to bring Andersh up to speed after Fendley was promoted to senior advisor to the provost — a job with a $169,146 salary.
WSU’s counter-suit sought $55,600, saying WSARC “would not have entered into the consulting agreement if WSARC had known of Mr. Fendley’s actions involving WSU’s H-1B visa program.”
Fendley was suspended in May and fired in August amid the ongoing federal investigation of the university’s potentially illegal misuse of a controversial temporary work visa program. The university’s chief general counsel also was forced to retire, and the provost and a researcher remain on paid leave for 17 months and counting.
Fendley also sued WSU for $249,000, claiming he was improperly terminated. That suit is pending in state court with a trial date set for May 2017.
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