Since the latest update was posted on our site in July 2019, CEIU met with ESDC senior management on October 2nd in order to deal with several issues of which the following are the highlights.
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 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.
INFORMATION FOR ALL
- In cooperation with Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC), ESDC submitted to the Pay Centre the first 50 cases of present incumbents so that their salaries might be adjusted from CR-04 et PM-01. These members should see the difference on their October 16th ESDC plans to submit 50 new cases each two-week pay period and to adjust the number according to the success rate within the Phoenix system.
- As planned, the PSPC-ESDC working group developed some FAQs on compensation that you will find here. An amended version will be available soon in order to deal with issues related to impact on pensions.
For those who have been incumbents since September 13th, 2018 to whom the new Program Services Officer (PM-01) job description within Pension or Integrity related operations applies.
- Appointment/classification letters for these members are being sent out in Ontario. They have already been sent in the Atlantic, Québec and Western regions.
- Meanwhile, ESDC has started to review cases where members, including those who have not filed grievances, might also be entitled to back pay.
- ESDC expects that present incumbents who have filed grievances will receive their appointment letters by the end of October 2019.
- ESDC has already started to contact present incumbents who have filed grievances in order to confirm their work periods entitling them to back pay. The next step will be to prepare a memorandum of understanding confirming those periods.
Important information on present incumbents who have not filed grievances.
It must be remembered that the Department (ESDC) has decided to grant back pay to incumbents who have not filed grievances only retroactively to the date of their latest appointment. This means that ESDC does not want to take into account previous periods where the members performed the duties as Program Services Officer (PM-01) if these came under another position number. In short, if management informs you that it does not consider all of your work periods entitling you to a retroactive appointment and/or acting pay, you must file a grievance. Several members in the Atlantic, Québec and Western regions have already done so. Please ask your local union representative how to proceed.
For the members who filed a job content grievance on their PSPC position between 2008 and September 2018 but left their position before September 13th, 2018.
- ESDC is working to retrace the employment history of former incumbents by collecting data from several human resource systems and other sources.
- Once this step has been completed, a validation and matching exercise will be carried out with management. Further to this exercise, ESDC will contact employees in order to validate the information and identify any previous employment period that might have been missed.
- The next step will be to prepare a memorandum of understanding confirming the periods in question.
- 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.
- The Department expects to complete the documentation by March 31st, 2020.
- Compensation has finally confirmed that members will have access to a compensation advisor in order to get further explanations or clarification on the various actions taken in their case in a timely fashion.
Follow-up on recourses
With respect to the fact that the employer does not intend to provide back pay 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), CEIU consulted the PSAC Representation Section because CEIU disagrees with this decision.
The PSAC has submitted an application for judicial review to the Federal Court to challenge the employer’s decision to exclude the members in question. This application was filed on March 15th, 2019. We will keep you informed on the next steps.
A policy grievance was also filed on March 29th, 2019 to denounce this deplorable situation. We are 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.