Inside Higher Ed: Is Tenure Just Another Form of ‘Wages’?
Instructors who give up tenure as part of early retirement or severance plans must pay Social Security taxes on the payments they receive, a divided federal appeals court ruled last week. Although the court’s ruling came in a case involving public school teachers, it conflicts with another appeals court’s 2001 decision in a case involving professors at North Dakota State University, which may lead the U.S. Supreme Court to resolve the issue nationally.