Seven part-time community college professors across California have sued eight local districts where they teach and the state, claiming their job requires that they work unpaid hours preparing lessons, grading and meeting with students, court records show.

They are demanding back pay, changes that will ensure they are paid for the work in the future, and for a judge to declare the suit a class action that could sweep in other part-time academics, commonly called adjuncts. As many as 37,000 adjuncts teach in the 115 colleges.

The lawsuit, filed Monday in Sacramento Superior Court, mirrors allegations made in a similar suit against Long Beach City College that adjuncts filed in April, claiming a lack of pay for work done outside of teaching hours. The Long Beach suit remains in the preliminary stages, Los Angeles Superior Court records show. But while the Long Beach suit focuses only on one community college district, the suit filed Monday has statewide reach and names the state California Community College system as a defendant.

The “plaintiffs have not been paid for all their hours of work outside of class to prepare their lectures or labs, grade papers and exams, prepare syllabi, email with or talk to their students, and assist in essential departmental activities,” the suit claims. “California state law does not permit employers to take advantage of employees by not paying them for all hours worked.”

“It’s been a long time brewing,” the lead plaintiff, John Martin,...

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