Term Appointment and Extension

A term appointment is an employment with a fixed duration (start and end date). Where a term employee's services are needed for a longer period than was originally expected, a manager may extend the duration of the employment for another specified period.

* Priority Clearance is required for all new appointments.

  • Why consider this staffing action

    To meet temporary operational needs such as:

    • Replacing employees on leave or temporarily assigned to another group or organization
    • Temporary business needs or fluctuating workloads
    • Short-term projects
    • Short-term, unforeseen and urgent operational needs
    • Learning, training and career development opportunities
    • Supporting the acquisition and transfer of knowledge and expertise

    Term employment should not be used

    • As a substitute probationary period for indeterminate staffing requirements. For more information on probationary periods, consult the Probation Bulletin.
  • What you need to know
    • Types of Term Appointment, Merit and Recourse
      • Internal (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).
        • Recourse: a two-step notification process is required on the GC Jobs website, known as Notification of Consideration and Notification of Appointment or Proposal of Appointment.
      • External (advertised* and non-advertised**) – Subject to merit but not recourse:
        • Merit: the employee must meet the SOMC.
      • Term Extension – Does not constitute a new appointment. Merit is not reassessed, the extension is not subject to recourse, and priority clearance is not required.

      *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.

      • Internal advertised appointment – occurs when the selection process is open only to federal public servants.
      • External advertised appointment – occurs when the selection process is open to federal public servants and non-public servants.

      **Non-Advertised– A process is non-advertised when the sub-delegated manager hires a candidate without an advertisement. Student Bridging and the appointment of a person with a priority entitlement are also considered non-advertised processes.

      • Internal non-advertised appointment – occurs when the appointment is for a public servant.
      • External non-advertised appointment – occurs when the appointment is for a non-public servant.

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

    • Area of Selection for Recourse Purposes (Internal processes only)
      • 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.
    • Priority Clearance

      Important: A person who has a priority status is entitled, under the Public Service Employment Act or the Public Service Employment Regulations, for a limited period, to be appointed ahead of all others to vacant positions in the public service. To be appointed, the person must meet the essential qualifications of the position.

    • Language requirements
      • The language requirements of the position must be met.
      • Unilingual positions – The candidate's ability in the language of the position must be assessed.
      • Bilingual Positions – Candidates must have valid Second Language Evaluation (SLE). 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.
        • The appointed employee is eligible for the bilingualism bonus, in accordance with the Bilingualism Bonus Directive.
        • The bonus is not payable to employees in the executive group (EX) or persons employed on a temporary basis of three months or less.
    • Security
      • Employees must have a valid security clearance that meets the security level required for the position being staffed.
      • For new hires to ESDC or 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 request.
      • Refer to the Validation of Security for Staffing Requests Chart to know the security confirmation process for your staffing action.
    • Vaccination Requirement
    • Employment and Schedule
      • The start or end date cannot be on a statutory holiday or on a weekend (unless the employee is required to work that day).
      • If the end date selected is prior to a statutory holiday (and the employment is not extended beyond this date in the future), the employee will not be paid for the statutory holiday.
      • May be hired with a set or shift work schedule, full time or part time. For more information on work schedules, consult the Guidance Document on Work Schedules for Employment Offers.
      • A term employee may be deployed.
      • Term to Indeterminate Conversion: When a person has been employed for a cumulative working period of three (3) years in the same department, the status of the employee is converted to indeterminate (some conditions apply). Consult the manager's guide on Conversion to Indeterminate Status for more information.
    • Sunset Funding
      • For the purposes of term employment, the sunset funding clause applies when the manager determines that the employee’s salary will be paid using external sources and for a limited duration (reallocation of monies within a department to carry out a specific project/activity is not sunset funding). The application of the sunset clause will be shared with Labour Relations and bargaining agents.
      • Where sunset funding is applicable, term employees must be advised in their employment offer, that their period of employment will not count in the calculation of the cumulative working period towards indeterminate status (3-year term rollover).
    • Pay

      As per Part 2 of the Appendix of the Directive on Terms and Conditions of Employment, on appointment from outside the public service:

      • The rate of pay is to be the minimum rate of the pay scale applicable to the position to which the person is appointed.
      • The sub-delegated manager has the discretion to appoint a person above the minimum salary only when one of the following conditions applies:
        1. shortage of skilled labour in the field involved, as evidenced by local or regional labour market surveys from recognized institutions;
        2. unusual difficulties in filling the position with properly qualified candidates (for example, the minimum rate of pay is not competitive with the rates offered by local or regional employers for similar duties); or
        3. operational conditions require the presence of a highly skilled or experienced person who can assume the full duties of the position immediately upon taking employment (for example, there is no alternative but to pay above the minimum because training a novice person would impose an unacceptable burden on the employing organization).
    • Renewal, Non-Renewal, or lay-off before the specified end date
    • Relocation
      • 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 staffing action involving an employee is of a duration of 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.

  • Required documents
    • Advertised Process – Initial Appointment

      Additional documents required – External Appointments

    • Non-Advertised Process – Initial Appointment

      Additional information – Internal Appointments

      • 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.

      Additional documents required – External Appointments

      • Validation of Canadian Citizenship for the hired candidate. When hiring a non-Canadian citizen, managers must ensure the employee has and maintains a valid work permit.
      • If Student Bridging:
        • Evidence of employment under a Student Employment Program (FSWEP (including ISEO and EOSD), RAP, COOP) (i.e., letter of offer, PeopleSoft print screen etc.).
        • Evidence studies completed prior to appointment (i.e., diploma, transcript or other confirmation from the educational institution).
    • Extension (Advertised and Non-advertised)
    • If Applicable (Advertised and Non-advertised)
      • Occupational certification: Evidence that the candidate meets the TBS qualification standards (i.e., CPA).
      • Evidence studies completed: (For Internal Advertised Appointments open to current students) by date identified on job advertisement and prior to appointment.
      • Informal Discussions: (Internal appointments only) summary and corrective measures taken.
      • Dual remuneration: Written certification from the delegated authority of the organization in which the person occupies their current substantive position that the performance of additional service in another organization does not impair the person's effectiveness in their substantive position.
      • Rate of pay above the minimum: If a higher rate is offered, provide the salary or pay step offered, one of the justifications from the Pay section above and a brief description of the context (can be an e-mail or a note in the comments section).
      • Relocation confirmation: Should the NRO determine that relocation applies; attach the confirmation email containing the relevant information.
      • Confirmation of Employment Equity self-declaration: Where the area of selection is limited to members 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.
  • Submitting a request

    Step 1: Obtain the following

    • Consult the Terms of Reference of your branch/regional Workforce Management Committee (WMC) to determine if WMC approval is required.
    • Employee PRI: If the employee is new to the Public Service, obtain a PRI.
    • Position:
      • A term appointment requires a vacant classified position (or encumbered where the incumbent is on leave, assigned elsewhere etc.). If no position is available in the manager's organizational structure, submit a request to Classification in the HRSC Portal.
      • If the designated work location of the employee is different from the current position location in PeopleSoft, refer to the Guide on Location Changes of a Position or an Employee for more information.
    • Conditions of employment: As applicable and identified on the SOMC, ensure that the employee meets the position's conditions of employment (i.e., requirement to travel, ability to lift a specified weight, valid driver's license, etc.). This includes the COVID-19 vaccination requirement.

    Step 2: Complete the appropriate request form: Appointment or Extension

    Step 3: Submit your request form

    • The staffing sub-delegated manager with financial signing authority, for the identified cost centre, under the Financial Administration Act (FAA) assumes full responsibility for the request.

    Step 4: Contract and signatures

    • After HR review, a contract or letter of offer will be issued through the HRSC Portal request for signature.
    • Read the contract/letter carefully and return it once signed by all parties as per the provided instructions.
      • If any amendments are required, advise HR. Do not make handwritten amendments or use a PDF editor.
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