Acting Appointment

• Less than four (4) months (total continuous period) – Not subject to merit or recourse. Consult the Language Requirements section for details related to Official Language requirements, including exemptions.
• Four (4) months or more (initial and extension) (advertised* and non-advertised**) – Subject to merit and recourse to the Federal Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board (FPSLREB);
  • Merit: The employee must meet the Statement of Merit Criteria (SOMC). Consult the Language Requirements section for details related to Official Language requirements, including exemptions.
  • Recourse: A Notification of Acting Appointment is required on the GC Jobs website.

*Advertised – A process is advertised when candidates in the area of selection are invited, through an advertisement on the GC Jobs website, to apply and demonstrate that they meet the merit criteria.

**Non-Advertised – A process is non-advertised when the sub-delegated manager appoints an employee without an advertisement.

Consult ESDC’s Guidance on Staffing for further details on the choice of appointment process.

• Identifies who is eligible to file a complaint to the Federal Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board (FPSLREB) following an appointment.
• Internal advertised appointment process: The area of recourse is limited to persons who were in the area of selection and participated in the appointment process.
• Internal non-advertised appointment process: The area of recourse is established by the sub-delegated manager in consultation with their HR Advisor. Section 6.6 of ESDC's Policy on Area of Selection, sets out the principles to follow when establishing an appropriate area of selection for recourse purposes.

• Unilingual positions – The employee's ability in the language of the position must be assessed by the hiring manager/assessment board.
• An employee in receipt of the Bilingualism Bonus (BB) will cease to receive the BB while acting in a unilingual position in accordance with the Bilingualism Bonus Directive.
• Bilingual positions – Candidates must have a valid Second Language Evaluation (SLE) result. The candidate's second official language is assessed using the Public Service Commission's SLE Tests. The candidate's first official language (FOL) is assessed by the hiring manager/assessment board.
  • Consult the Official Languages Exemptions for Acting Appointments for information related to exemptions to meeting the linguistic requirements of bilingual positions.
  • An employee acting in a non-executive position may be eligible to receive the BB.
  • An employee acting in an executive position is not entitled to receive the BB.
  • Consult the Bilingualism Bonus Chart – Are you entitled to receive a bilingualism bonus?, the Eligibility Table for Bilingual Bonus (PDF, 516 KB) and the Bilingualism Bonus Eligibility in Acting Appointment of Less Than 4 Months Situations table for more information.

• Employees must have a valid security clearance that meets the security level required for the position being staffed.
• For employees moving into a position requiring a security clearance at a higher level than the level they currently possess, submit security clearance requests to the appropriate Regional Security Office (RSO) as early as possible to avoid delays in the processing of your staffing action.
• Refer to the Validation of Security for Staffing Requests Chart to know the security confirmation process for your staffing action.

• The Policy on COVID-19 Vaccination for the Core Public Administration requires all employees to be fully vaccinated or have a supported accommodation measure due to a certified medical contraindication, religion or other prohibited ground of discrimination as defined in the Canadian Human Rights Act (CHRA).
• The vaccination requirement took effect on October 6, 2021, and it is a condition of employment.
• Refer to the Validation of Vaccination Requirement for Staffing Requests web page to know the validation process for your staffing action.

• If the acting appointment will be four (4) months or more in duration, treat the appointment as such from the outset and for the entire duration required, to ensure transparency and to avoid multiple acting requests.
• The start or end date cannot be on a statutory holiday or on a weekend (unless the employee is actually required to work that day).
• For information on work schedules, consult the Guidance Document on Work Schedules for Employment Offers.
• If the acting must end early, advise the employee and confirm the new end date by e-mail or with the End of acting – Premature end date notice. Consult the Compensation Glossary on How to cancel or end an existing Acting Appointment early, for further details.

• A non-executive employee acting in an executive position remains subject to the collective agreement governing their substantive position and is eligible to receive acting pay.
• An executive employee acting in a higher-level executive position is eligible to receive acting pay only once the executive has acted for three consecutive months.
• An executive at the EX-04 or EX-05 level is not eligible for acting pay.

The total continuous period of an acting appointment includes all periods that an employee acts at the same group and level, without at least one day break, regardless of whether the position number, job title or job functions change; it is therefore important to know the acting history of the person to whom an acting appointment is offered.

• The following table outlines the level of approvals for acting appointments including extensions with a total continuous period of 12 months or more.
• Deputy Minister (DM) approval for continuous acting appointments of 36 months or more within ESDC is required in recognition that long-term acting appointments do not form part of a sustainable human resources approach.
  • The HR Branch is responsible for submitting the approval requests to the DM on a quarterly basis (March, June, September and December). To ensure that no retroactive requests for extensions are submitted, contact your HR Advisor well in advance (at least 2 months) of the effective date of the staffing action to discuss the approval process. Your HR Advisor will also provide guidance on information requirements.

The Directive on Union Dues stipulates that union dues must be remitted to the bargaining agent representing the occupational group under which the work is being performed. The acting appointment may have an impact on the membership dues levied by the bargaining agent from the employee's monthly pay.

When an employee requests or is offered an acting appointment in another city or region, outside their regular workplace, they could be deemed to be in travel status. This movement is covered by the National Joint Council Travel Directive. For questions related to travel, contact the Finance and other Related Services Sector on the Gateway for Travel Support.

Reimbursement of relocation expenses may apply; managers must contact the National Relocation Office* nc-relocation-reinst@servicecanada.gc.ca before initiating a discussion with the employee/candidate and/or submitting a request to the HRSC Portal, whichever comes first, when:

• the duration of the acting is more than one year (366 days or more) and;
• the work location of the position to be staffed differs from the one previously occupied by the employee.

*with the exception of the movement of an employee from a position in the National Capital Region (NCR) to another position in the NCR.

For additional information on acting appointments, consult the Guidance on Staffing.

• COVID-19 Vaccination Requirement: Consult the Validation of Vaccination Requirement for Staffing Requests web page to know the confirmation process for your staffing action.

• COVID-19 Vaccination Requirement: Consult the Validation of Vaccination Requirement for Staffing Requests web page to know the confirmation process for your staffing action.
• Articulation of Selection Decision: You may provide the information using the Articulation of Selection Decision template (DOCX, 33 KB), the HRSC Portal or any other format. It must be approved by the staffing sub-delegated manager. See Type of Approval Required.
• Proof of education as identified on the job advertisement (if not already provided during the process). See Qualification standards for employment in the core public administration:
  • Consult the manager's tool on Proof of Education and Occupational Certification for more information.

• COVID-19 Vaccination Requirement: Consult the Validation of Vaccination Requirement for Staffing Requests web page to know the confirmation process for your staffing action.
• Articulation of Selection Decision: You may provide the information using the Articulation of Selection Decision template (DOCX, 33 KB), the HRSC Portal or any other format. It must be approved by the staffing sub-delegated manager. See Type of Approval Required.
• Statement of Merit Criteria (SOMC) (DOCX, 522 KB): Bilingual Word format.
• Candidate assessment: You may provide the information using the Assessment of Merit Criteria template (DOCX, 48 KB). The assessment may also include the following items:
  • Candidate Resume: Only required if the assessment references the resume.
  • Proof of education that meets the qualification as identified on the SOMC. See Qualification standards for employment in the core public administration:
    • Consult the manager's tool on Proof of Education and Occupational Certification for more information.

  Additional information

  • Area of Selection for Recourse Purposes: This information is not required when submitting your request; however, if you have this information in approved or draft format, add it to your request so that it can be finalized in partnership with an HR Advisor.

• COVID-19 Vaccination Requirement: Consult the Validation of Vaccination Requirement for Staffing Requests web page to know the confirmation process for your staffing action.
• Confirmation in the HRSC Portal that the documents provided for the previous acting appointment continue to apply. Provide updated documents only if changes/updates are required.
  • Articulation of Selection Decision
  • Statement of Merit Criteria
  • Candidate Assessment
  • Area of Selection for Recourse

• Occupational certification: Evidence that the candidate meets the TBS qualification standards (i.e., CPA).
• Exemption from meeting the linguistic requirements: Factual explanation for invoking an exemption if the employee does not meet the linguistic requirements of the position. 
• ADM and/or DM Approval: For appointments of 12 months or more (total continuous period) – see Approvals section above.
• Informal Discussions: Summary and corrective measures taken.
• Confirmation of Employment Equity self-declaration:  Where the area of selection is limited to membership of an EE group and/or is a merit criterion identified on the SOMC.
• Completed Affirmation of Aboriginal Affiliation Form (AAAF): Where the appointment of an Aboriginal candidate is the result of:
  1. limiting the area of selection to Aboriginal peoples or employment equity groups that include Aboriginal persons;
  2. applying the organizational need to increase the representation of members of designated groups, including Aboriginal peoples; Or
  3. selecting from an Aboriginal inventory used to increase the representation of Aboriginal peoples, or of designated groups, including Aboriginal peoples.