Program and Services Delivery Clerk (PSDC) – Update on the Resolution of Grievance

Background

• Please see background information in previous update.
• Management, with the support of the Human Resources Services Branch, continues to work diligently to resolve each employee reclassification efficiently and effectively.
• The Department will continue to keep employees informed on progress, and provide additional information on timelines as work proceeds.

Status update

• Management, with the support of the Human Resources Services Branch, continues to work diligently to resolve each employee reclassification efficiently and effectively.
• The Department will continue to keep employees informed on progress, and provide additional information on timelines as work proceeds.

Applicable to all

• The Department has developed a close partnership with Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) to ensure efficient coordination of compensation efforts between Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) compensation and the PSPC Pay Centre.
• The working group established between the two Departments continues to meet and undertake various technical activities to minimize Phoenix impacts on reclassified employees, such as the adjustment of business processes to ensure efficiency and timeliness.
• Reclassified employees (including grievors who are current incumbents) continue to receive information with respect to tax waivers and have been asked to indicate if they will be exercising this option. Former incumbents who are grievors who are currently receiving their grievance resolution packages are also being provided with this information.
• Files where the employee has not yet provided a response regarding a tax waiver will remain unprocessed until the employee responds to their tax waiver option or after three unsuccessful attempt to receive a response.
• Files where the employee has declined the tax waiver option are being processed as they are received.
• Files where the employee has requested a tax waiver are put on hold until the employee provides the tax waiver from Canada Revenue Agency and/or Revenue Quebec.
• The Department continues to submit cases to the PSPC Pay Centre. The number of cases submitted per pay period has been reduced from 100 to 65, due to limited inventory for processing as well as reduced processing capabilities due to COVID-19. The Pay Centre will integrate these cases into their normal workload.
• As of November 17th 2020, 823 employees have received an adjusted salary and/or retroactive payment.
• Once payments have been issued, current and former incumbents will be provided with the opportunity to virtually meet with an ESDC compensation service pay specialist to receive a detailed explanation of the payment. Work is underway on reviewing employee files with employees being contacted once a full file review is completed.
• The Department continues to update the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) on the reclassification intranet page to reflect any updates. The FAQ’s can be found here.

Current Incumbents - Non-Grievors

• All letters for appointments (reclassification) for current PSDC employees and retroactive pay for former PSDC employees (that were in the position on or after September 13, 2018 but have since left the position) have been issued for all regions and the vast majority have been submitted to Compensation for processing.

Current Incumbents - Grievors

• The Department has completed the recreation of the employment history for grievors by gathering data from numerous HR systems and other sources. A validation and mapping exercise was completed by management.
• The majority of the current incumbent grievor files have been completed and submitted to Compensation for processing. Salary adjustments and retroactive payments have started to be issued to employees. Specifically, depending on their individual circumstances, grievors were provided with a Memorandum of Settlement (MOS) and letter of appointment (reclassification) for their signature.

• The Department has completed the recreation of employment histories for former incumbents who are grievors by gathering data from numerous HR systems and other sources. A validation and mapping exercise has also been conducted by management. As part of this exercise, former incumbents who are grievors have started to receive their employment history for validation and their MOS for signature, where applicable. This information is being sent via mail for former employees that are no longer with the department and via internal e-mail for those that are still within the organization.
• It is anticipated that resolving former incumbents’ grievances will take some time due to the number of grievors involved as well as the logistics/coordination in sending the required documentation to grievors.
• The Department anticipates completing the majority of the grievance documentation (obtaining fully signed MOS’ and submitting them to Compensation) by March 31, 2021.