Since the latest update was posted on our site in October 2019, CEIU met with the ESDC Human Resources team on January 15th, 2020 in order to follow up on actions in progress, of which the highlights are as follows.
The information hereunder concerns members who:
-Have been incumbents since September 13th, 2018 of a PSDC position within Pension and Integrity related operations to which the new Program Services Officer (PM-01) job description applies;
-Have filed grievances on the job content of the PSDC position within Pension and Integrity related operations between 2008 and September 13th, 2018 even if they left their position since.
INFORMATION APPLICABLE TO ALL
-On January 8th, 2020, ESDC, in partnership with Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC), submitted to the Pay Centre a total of 347 files from members presently holding the position in order to have their salaries adjusted from CR-04 to PM-01. ESDC continues to submit new cases every two-week pay period as soon as the documentation required for each file is complete. In total, over 850 members will see their salaries adjusted.
-Once the final salary adjustment and payments have been confirmed, Compensation Services management will contact employees in order to provide them with explanations or additional clarification on the various actions taken on their files. They expect this to start around the middle of February 2020.
-The working group between ESDC and PSPC has developed an FAQ document on compensation. You will find the document at this link. We are waiting for an amended version dealing with issues related to the impacts on pensions. We will post it as soon as we receive it.
For those who have been incumbents since September 13th, 2018 to whom the new Program Services Officer (PM-01) job description within Pensions or Integrity related operations applies but who have not filed grievances:
All appointment (reclassification) letters to present incumbents and letters concerning backpay to former employees who held the PSDC position on September 13th, 2018 or thereafter but who left the position since have been sent in all regions.
Important information for present incumbents who have not filed grievances between 2008 and September 13th, 2018.
Further to our recommendation issued in October 2019, we have received 100 new grievances when the Department (ESDC) informed present incumbents that they would be reclassified as of the date of their latest appointment. It should be recalled that ESDC decided not to consider previous periods when the members held the position and performed the duties of Program Services Officer (PM-01) if these came under another position number. Those grievances will be processed in 2020.
For those who have been incumbents since September 13th, 2018 to whom the new Program Services Officer (PM-01) job description within Pensions or Integrity related operations applies and who have filed grievances:
-ESDC has finished retracing the employment history of grievors by collecting data from several HR systems and other sources.
-ESDC is presently contacting grievors with previous employment periods in order to provide them with a copy of their employment history so that they may validate it.
-ESDC is presently contacting grievors with no previous employment periods to provide them with a copy of the memorandum of understanding and their appointment (reclassification) letter for them to sign.
For the members who filed a job content grievance on their PSPC position between 2008 and September 13th, 2018 but left their position before September 13th, 2018:
-ESDC has finished retracing the employment history of former incumbents who are grievors by collecting data from several HR systems and other sources. Management is now carrying out a validation and matching exercise in the course of which former incumbents who are grievors will be contacted to validate the information.
-ESDC expects to complete the documentation by March 31st, 2020.
-ESDC anticipates that settling the grievances of former incumbents will take some time because of the in-depth research required to retrace and match their employment history.
-ESDC’s goal is to finalize retroactive payments by December 31st, 2020 provided that all required documents are duly filled, signed and returned in a timely manner.
Follow-up on other recourses
It should be recalled that CEIU worked with the PSAC Representation Section further to ESDC’s decision not to consider and provide backpay to members who did not file a grievance and permanently left their positions before September 13th, 2018 (date when the new job description was signed by management). An application for judicial review by the Federal Court was filed on March 15th, 2019 to challenge ESDC’s decision to exclude the members in question.
The Federal Court hearing was held on January 15th, 2020. The PSAC does not expect the Court to hand down a decision before the end of February 2020.
With respect to the policy grievance filed on March 29th, 2019 to denounce this deplorable situation, we are still waiting for Treasury Board to set a hearing date. We will keep you informed on the next steps.
In closing, please continue to check the CEIU website for new updates on the issue.