Protect the HEO Workweek

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HEOs are organizing to ensure that work beyond the contractually mandated 35 hours per week is compensated. Employees in HEO series titles should receive compensatory time for work performed beyond 35 and 40 hours per week. Most employees in the Assistant to HEO title and many in the HE Assistant title are covered under the Fair Labor Standards Act and are therefore entitled to be paid cash at the rate of time-and-a-half for work in excess of 40 hours in a week.

Know your rights. Click here for the HEO Handbook.

Join the effort! The HEO Overtime Campaign is a combination of efforts by the Organizing and Contract Enforcement departments. The goals of the campaign are to:

1) Win implementation of the HEO Overtime Agreement on targeted campuses
2) Build leadership skills among HEO leaders
3) Build strong campus chapters/committees

There are many examples of campus-based efforts to win implementation of the HEO Overtime Agreement. The HEO Overtime Campaign started with targeted organizing efforts by members at Brooklyn College, Medgar Evers College, NYC College of Technology and Queensborough Community College. Members at these colleges developed strategic campus-based campaigns and organized by:

• Talking to other members one-on-one
• Hosting campus-wide information sessions and trainings
• Building support through petition gathering
• Holding accountability sessions with management
• Attending and testifying at the Union’s Step Two Hearing on CUNY’s failure to provide quarterly statements

By organizing to build union power and increase awareness of the HEO Overtime Agreement, members have been successful at winning implementation of the Agreement, educating and empowering members on their campus and building strong committees that will continue to organize to improve HEO working conditions and monitor enforcement of the contract.

For more information on the HEO Overtime campaign, contact Alisa A. Simmons, PSC Organizing Coordinator, at asimmons@pscmail.org or (212) 354-1252.