Reimbursement of Transportation Costs When Overtime is Planned in Advance or on Short Notice
(Program and Administrative Services (PA) Collective Agreement)

The purpose of this Labour Relations Bulletin is to ensure consistency in the reimbursement of transportation costs when overtime is planned in advance or on short notice.

Article 28.10 of the PA Collective Agreement is clear: a public servant is only entitled to reimbursement of their transportation costs if the conditions described in paragraphs 28.05 b), c) and 28.06 c) are met and if they are “required to use transportation services other than normal public transportation services.”

1. 28.05 b): If an employee is given instructions during the employee’s workday to work overtime on that day and reports for work at a time which is not contiguous to the employee’s scheduled hours of work
2. 28.05 c): An employee who is called back to work after the employee has completed his or her work for the day and has left his or her place of work, and who returns to work
3. 28.06 c): When an employee is required to report for work and reports on a day of rest

A public servant is only entitled to reimbursement of their transportation costs if one of the three conditions described in paragraphs 28.05 b), c) and 28.06 c) are met and if they are “required to use transportation services other than normal public transportation services.”

The wording “is required to report for work and reports” in paragraphs 28.10 a) and 28.06 c) concerns cases where the employer needs the services of an employee “on short notice”^{Footnote 1}. It can be inferred that the term “on short notice” means everything that is shorter than the notice period prescribed in paragraph 28.04 c): The Employer shall, wherever possible, give at least four (4) hours’ notice of any requirement for overtime work, except in cases of emergency, call-back or mutual agreement with the employee.

The wording “is required to use transportation services other than normal public transportation services” implies that public transportation is not available or that the employee has been asked to use other means of transportation due to the urgency of the situation. Both conditions must be met in order for an employee to be eligible for reimbursement of transportation expenses.

Situation 1

• Situation 1 a): An employee has been informed that overtime could be worked on the same day, but that it is not contiguous to their scheduled workday (that is, that the employee ends their day at 4:00 pm and that overtime is only available from 7:00 pm for operational reasons). Moreover, the employee used a private vehicle because no public transportation was available on the day that the overtime was worked.
• Situation 1 b): An employee is informed, on their day of rest that they must report to the office as soon as possible to replace an employee who has called in sick. Moreover, the employee used a private vehicle because no public transportation was available on the day that the overtime was worked.

Application: Since in situations 1 a) and 1 b), the condition described in paragraph 28.06 c) was met, the employee is entitled to the reimbursement of their transportation costs pursuant to paragraph 28.10, provided they had received the employer’s authorization to use their own vehicle to get to work, pursuant to subparagraph 28.10 a) i).

Situation 2

• Situation 2: An employee working a normal schedule (from Monday to Friday) was informed on Friday afternoon that they had to work overtime on the next day (Saturday). The employee worked overtime and was paid for it and is now asking for reimbursement of their transportation costs (use of private vehicle).

Application: In situation 2, since the conditions described in paragraphs 28.05 b) and c) did not apply and that the notion of “on short notice” implied in paragraph 28.06 c) was not met, the employee cannot be entitled to reimbursement of transportation costs.

The employee who:

• is given instruction during their workday to work overtime on that day and report for work at a time which not contiguous to their scheduled hours of work;
• is called back to work after they have completed their work for the day and has left their place of work, and who returns to work;
• is required to report for work on a day of rest and who reports for work (with less than 4 hours’ notice);

should be reimbursed for their transportation costs if they are required to use transportation services other than normal public transportation services with prior authorization.