Since the latest update was posted on our site in March 2019, CEIU has continued to meet regularly with management 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 13^th, 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 13^th, 2018 even if they left their position.

BACKGROUND

• As you know, many members who worked within Pension and Integrity related operations have filed grievances concerning the content of the PSDC job description in 2008.
  
  
• Further to the 2012 third-level hearing on the job content grievances, management committed, in March 2013, to review the job description and subject a revised version to a classification evaluation. Employees, the union and management contributed to the development of the revised job description. A classification committee compared the job description with the classification standards of the Government of Canada while taking into account the relativity of similar duties and the organizational context. The Department agreed with the findings of the committee that the work performed by PSDCs was actually twofold.
  
  
• Consequently, in February 2019, the Department implemented two new job descriptions: Program Services Officer (PM-01) and Program Support Clerk (CR-04).

INFORMATION FOR ALL

• The Department worked in close partnership with Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) in order to effectively coordinate compensation efforts between the Employment and Social Development Canada compensation centre and the PSPC pay centre.
  
  
• A working group was set up between the two Departments and will carry out various technical activities in order to minimise the impacts of Phoenix on reclassified employees, to develop an FAQ document on compensation and to adapt operating procedures to ensure fast and effective processing.
  
  
• The Department plans to submit 50 cases per week as of the fall of 2019 to the Pay Centre which will include these cases in its regular workload (to adjust the salaries of members presently holding the position).

For those who have been incumbents since September 13^th, 2018 to whom the new Program Services Officer (PM-01) job description within Pension or Integrity related operations applies.

• According to legal requirements, a statement of merit criteria and a general evaluation document were developed to assess the members (including those who filed grievances) in view of an appointment (reclassification).
  
  
• Determination and validation of the latest start date of present incumbents (including those who filed grievances) are nearly completed.
  
  
• The drafting and distribution of appointment letters for the members who have not filed grievances are under way.
  
  
• Once all the (reclassification) letters have been issued, the Department will start reviewing cases where members (who have not filed grievances) might be entitled to back pay.
  
  
• The Department is working to retrace the employment history of each person who filed a grievance (in the case of present incumbents, this exercise might be limited to determining the most recent start date) by collecting data from several human resource systems and other sources. Once this step is finished, a validation and matching exercise will be carried out with management.
  
  
• The Department therefore anticipates that some of the present incumbents who have filed grievances will receive appointment letters later since their cases will require an additional commitment to develop grievance settlement agreements.
  
  

Important information on present incumbents who have not filed grievances.

The Department 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 of 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. 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 13^th, 2018.

• The Department 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, the Department will contact employees in order to validate the information and identify any previous employment period that might have been missed.

• Management will then carry out a validation and matching exercise.
  
  
• The Department 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 31^st, 2020.

Follow-up on recourses

With respect to the fact that the employer does not intend to provide retroactive pay to members who did not file a grievance and permanently left their positions before September 13^th, 2018 (date when the new job description was signed by management), CEIU consulted the PSAC Representation Section because CEIU disagrees with this decision.

The recourse chosen to challenge the employer’s decision to exclude the members in question is the application for judicial review to the Federal Court. This application was filed on March 15^th, 2019. We will keep you informed on the next steps.

A policy grievance was also filed on March 29^th, 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.