Blog

ACE Members,

We recently received a couple great questions about overtime and call back time. Here’s a quick reference:

• If it’s a weekend and you have to work, scheduled or not, it’s call back (minimum 4 hours OT)
• If it’s the end of your workday and it’s extended, it’s overtime (hours worked * 1.5)
• If you go home at the end of your workday and come back, it’s call back (minimum 4 hours OT)

See Article 13 – Hours and Overtime (also copied below)

• Overtime triggers when you work beyond your regular workday, or 40 hour workweek, or the sixth and seventh consecutive days of employment.
  • Double-Overtime triggers when you work beyond 12 hours in a workday.
• Overtime requires pre-approval/authorization from a supervisor/manager. Faculty members cannot authorize overtime.
• Workers have the choice between pay or accruing comp time – managers do not decide.

13.2 Overtime

The District is subject to the following provisions concerning overtime which provide for overtime payments to all eligible workers who work over eight hours in one day in a five- day work week, over ten hours in one day in a four-day work week, over nine hours in a 9/80 or 4/36 workweek, or over 40 hours in any work week, or on the sixth and seventh consecutive days of employment.

13.2.1 Approval for a worker to work overtime will come only from department supervisors, division administrators, or supervisors at a higher level. Approval will be based upon legitimate scheduling or load problems which cannot be solved through reassignment or adjustment of workload and will be governed by the availability of budgeted funds.

13.2.2 A worker authorized to work more than 40 hours per week will receive compensation or compensatory time at a rate equivalent to one and one-half times the normal hourly rate as determined by current contract pay, except when a worker works on a holiday, in which case the worker will be paid both regular pay and pay at the overtime rate for the hours worked.

Workers whose work schedule requires them to work beyond 12 hours per day shall be paid at a rate equivalent to double the normal hourly rate as determined by current contract pay for the hours worked beyond 12 hours.

…

13.2.4 Call Back Time

Occasionally a worker may be called back for work in the evening or on a weekend to accommodate a special need. In such cases, travel time to and from home will be counted as time worked. In order to make the disturbance of normal time off worthwhile, the pay for combined work and travel time shall be for a minimum of four hours.

In Service,

Scott Olsen (he/him) | ACE President
https://acefhda.org | scott.olsen@acefhda.org  
650-949-7789 | M-F 8:30am-5:00pm

ACE Members,

Property Tax Revenue Update
The May Board of Trustees meeting began with a presentation by Nesa Fligor, Santa Clara County Assessor, who reported that property value growth is similar to last year. FHDA CCD is the largest recipient of revenue due to cities in our jurisdiction. Final roll is on June 30^th.

Why does this matter? The largest source of our district’s funding has shifted from the state to local. While we still keep an eye on the State COLA in the Governor’s May revise as a guide for salary negotiations, local property taxes are our new data source to pay attention to. Reminder: Neither the COLA nor this property tax revenue is automatically passed to employees – everything is negotiated. Our team is set to begin negotiations soon. @Chris Chavez will provide updates.

Negotiations, Sunshine, Reopeners
For those that would like to review our sunshine letter which opens negotiations, it is available on the recent Board of Trustees agenda (LINK). We’re opening Article 8 – Pay, 18 – Benefits, 10 – Leaves, and 15 – Classification. The District has chosen to open Article 17 – Retirement.

Traditionally Articles 8 and 18 are always open. ACE opens two additional article and the District opens two additional articles.

Union Position Transition

• VP for De Anza, @Lisa Ly, is currently working out of class as an administrator and will return in June.
• VP for Foothill, @Phuong Tran, will be going on Staff Development Leave in Aug/Sep and we will need to seek a replacement to serve out until the end of her current term.
• Chief Steward for De Anza, @Andre Meggerson, will be going on Staff Development Leave in Aug/Sep and we will need to seek a replacement to serve out until the end of his current term.
• Chief Steward for Central Services, @Thomas Marks, is currently working out of class as a supervisor. We will need to seek a replacement to serve out until the end of his current term.
• Bookkeeper, Nancy Reynolds, is ending her practice and the ACE Executive Board has approved to offer the same job at the same rate of pay to a union member.

Are you interested in serving as a DA/CS Chief Steward or FH VP? Do you have the training and experience to be a bookkeeper? Reach out to existing board members in those roles or @Scott Olsen and @Jesse Perez to apply for the bookkeeper position (by next Thursday, May 21^st.)

Artificial “Intelligence” Anxiety
While ACE has not established new language related to AI implementation existing union protections continue to serve members:

• Bargaining Unilateral Change in Working Conditions (LINK)
• Contracting Out Bargaining Unit Work (Article 7.17) & Use of Temporary Employees (Article 4)
• Layoff (Article 11)

To date no one has been laid off due to AI implementation and there has been no proposal to eliminate a job because of an AI chabot/tool/contract. Our stance is that AI cannot replace any employee’s function at the District. Contact us if any changes occur in your work area.

Interested in more AI skepticism, doom, and gloom? Watch Last Week Tonight with John Oliver’s episode on AI Chatbots (LINK) [30 minutes]

District 12-question Climate Pulse Survey
Please respond by Friday, May 22^nd  (LINK)

In Service,

Scott Olsen (he/him) | ACE President
https://acefhda.org | scott.olsen@acefhda.org 
650-949-7789 | M-F 8:30am-5:00pm

This email was handcrafted by a human being for fellow human beings.

ACE Members,

We have had a handful of members who are rely on AI for contract and legal interpretation – do not use a chatbot for this purpose. Even with our Agreement loaded, MS Copilot initially offered guidance (see first image) that does not align with ACE’s interpretation. AI is also unaware of District-specific MOUs, past practice, Ed Code, Labor Law, State Law, etc. – things that could cost your money if you solely accept the answer without reaching out to multiple sources for validation:

When the AI was challenged with what we already knew from manually reading our Agreement and consulting with our Attorney, MS Copilot changed its tune (second image) and agreed that the calculation should be “travel time (to & from home) + work time = total overtime reported”:

There is a big difference between being told to report 2 hours of overtime instead of a minimum of 4 hours, and perhaps more(!) if your travel time to+from work exceeds 4 hours. Additionally, AI does not have the final say regarding what’s correct in our workplace.

Members can always consult with a union steward at any campus or our attorney for handcrafted artisan responses to questions:

• @Andre Meggerson – De Anza, Chief Steward
• @Jeff Dickard – De Anza, Steward
• @Janie Garcia – Foothill, Chief Steward
• @Cynthia Huang – Foothill, Steward
• @Scott Olsen – President
• @Anthony Booth – Attorney

In Service,

Scott Olsen (he/him) | ACE President
https://acefhda.org | scott.olsen@acefhda.org  
650-949-7789 | M-F 8:30am-5:00pm

From: Scott Olsen <olsenscott@fhda.edu>
Sent: Thursday, May 14, 2026 9:52 AM
To: ace <ace@fhda.edu>
Cc: Foothill-De Anza Association of Classified Employees <ace2@fhda.edu>
Subject: (ACE) 2026.05.14 Quick Update – Overtime (Time * 1.5), Call Back Time (4 Hours Min)

ACE Members,

We recently received a couple great questions about overtime and call back time. Here’s a quick reference:

• If it’s a weekend and you have to work, scheduled or not, it’s call back (minimum 4 hours OT)
• If it’s the end of your workday and it’s extended, it’s overtime (hours worked * 1.5)
• If you go home at the end of your workday and come back, it’s call back (minimum 4 hours OT)

See Article 13 – Hours and Overtime (also copied below)

• Overtime triggers when you work beyond your regular workday, or 40 hour workweek, or the sixth and seventh consecutive days of employment.
  • Double-Overtime triggers when you work beyond 12 hours in a workday.
• Overtime requires pre-approval/authorization from a supervisor/manager. Faculty members cannot authorize overtime.
• Workers have the choice between pay or accruing comp time – managers do not decide.

13.2 Overtime
The District is subject to the following provisions concerning overtime which provide for overtime payments to all eligible workers who work over eight hours in one day in a five- day work week, over ten hours in one day in a four-day work week, over nine hours in a 9/80 or 4/36 workweek, or over 40 hours in any work week, or on the sixth and seventh consecutive days of employment.

13.2.1 Approval for a worker to work overtime will come only from department supervisors, division administrators, or supervisors at a higher level. Approval will be based upon legitimate scheduling or load problems which cannot be solved through reassignment or adjustment of workload and will be governed by the availability of budgeted funds.

13.2.2 A worker authorized to work more than 40 hours per week will receive compensation or compensatory time at a rate equivalent to one and one-half times the normal hourly rate as determined by current contract pay, except when a worker works on a holiday, in which case the worker will be paid both regular pay and pay at the overtime rate for the hours worked.

Workers whose work schedule requires them to work beyond 12 hours per day shall be paid at a rate equivalent to double the normal hourly rate as determined by current contract pay for the hours worked beyond 12 hours.

…

13.2.4 Call Back Time
Occasionally a worker may be called back for work in the evening or on a weekend to accommodate a special need. In such cases, travel time to and from home will be counted as time worked. In order to make the disturbance of normal time off worthwhile, the pay for combined work and travel time shall be for a minimum of four hours.

In Service,

Scott Olsen (he/him) | ACE President
https://acefhda.org | scott.olsen@acefhda.org  
650-949-7789 | M-F 8:30am-5:00pm