Parliamentary Employment and Staff Relations Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. 33 (2nd Supp.))

Short Title

Marginal note:Short title

1 This Act may be cited as the Parliamentary Employment and Staff Relations Act.

Application of Act

Marginal note:Generally

2 Subject to this Act, this Act applies to and in respect of every person employed by, and applies to and in respect of,

• (a) the Senate, House of Commons, Library of Parliament, office of the Senate Ethics Officer, office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, Parliamentary Protective Service or office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer, and

• (b) a Member of Parliament who, in that capacity, employs that person or has the direction or control of staff employed to provide research or associated services to the caucus members of a political party represented in Parliament,

and, except as provided in this Act, nothing in any other Act of Parliament that provides for matters similar to those provided for under this Act and nothing done thereunder, whether before or after the coming into force of this section, shall apply to or in respect of or have any force or effect in relation to the institutions and persons described in this section.

Marginal note:Accessible Canada Act

2.1 For greater certainty, a person who is referred to in section 2 and who is not entitled to present a grievance under section 62 may file a complaint under subsection 94(1) of the Accessible Canada Act with respect to a contravention of an applicable provision of regulations made under subsection 117(1) of that Act if the person has suffered physical or psychological harm, property damage or economic loss as a result of — or has otherwise been adversely affected by — that contravention.

PART IStaff Relations

Interpretation

Marginal note:Definitions

3 In this Part,

adjudicator

adjudicator means, subject to subsection 66(4), a member of the Board assigned to hear and determine a grievance referred to adjudication and includes, where the context permits, a board of adjudication established under section 65 and an adjudicator named in a collective agreement for the purposes of that agreement; (arbitre)

arbitral award

arbitral award means an award made by the Board or an arbitrator appointed under section 49 in respect of a dispute; (décision arbitrale)

bargaining agent

bargaining agent means an employee organization

• (a) that has been certified by the Board as bargaining agent for a bargaining unit, and

• (b) the certification of which has not been revoked; (agent négociateur)

bargaining unit

bargaining unit means a group of two or more employees that is determined, in accordance with this Part, to constitute a unit of employees appropriate for collective bargaining; (unité de négociation)

Board

Board means the Federal Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board referred to in subsection 4(1) of the Federal Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board Act; (Commission)

Chairman

Chairman[Repealed, 2003, c. 22, s. 182]

Chairperson

Chairperson means the Chairperson of the Board; (président)

collective agreement

collective agreement means an agreement in writing entered into under this Part between an employer, on the one hand, and a bargaining agent, on the other hand, containing provisions respecting terms and conditions of employment and related matters; (convention collective)

conciliator

conciliator means a person appointed by the Chairperson under section 40 to assist the parties to collective bargaining in reaching agreement; (conciliateur)

Deputy Chairman

Deputy Chairman[Repealed, 2003, c. 22, s. 182]

dispute

dispute means a dispute or difference arising in connection with the conclusion, renewal or revision of a collective agreement, in respect of which arbitration is requested pursuant to section 50; (différend)

employee

employee means a person employed by an employer, other than

• (a) a person appointed by the Governor in Council,

• (b) a person not ordinarily required to work more than seven hundred hours in a calendar year or one-third of the normal period for persons doing similar work, whichever is greater,

• (c) a person employed on a casual or temporary basis, unless the person has been so employed for a period of six months or more,

• (d) a person employed in a managerial or confidential capacity, or

• (e) a person excluded from the application of this Part by section 4,

and for the purposes of this definition a person does not cease to be employed by an employer by reason only of the person’s discharge contrary to this Part or any other Act of Parliament; (employé)

employee organization

employee organization means any organization of employees the purposes of which include the regulation of relations between an employer and its employees for the purposes of this Part and includes, unless the context otherwise requires, a council of employee organizations; (organisation syndicale)

employer

employer means

• (a) the Senate as represented by such committee or person as the Senate by its rules or orders designates for the purposes of this Part,

• (b) the House of Commons as represented by such committee or person as the House of Commons by its orders designates for the purposes of this Part,

• (c) the Library of Parliament as represented by the Parliamentary Librarian acting, subject to subsection 74(1) of the Parliament of Canada Act, on behalf of both Houses of Parliament,

• (d) the office of the Senate Ethics Officer as represented by the Ethics Officer,

• (e) the office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner as represented by the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner,

• (f) the Parliamentary Protective Service as represented by the Director of the Parliamentary Protective Service on behalf of the Speakers of the two Houses of Parliament, or

• (g) the office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer as represented by the Parliamentary Budget Officer; (employeur)

grievance

grievance means a complaint in writing presented in accordance with this Part by an employee on his own behalf or on behalf of the employee and one or more other employees, except that

• (a) for the purposes of any of the provisions of this Part respecting grievances, a reference to an “employee” includes a person who would be an employee but for the fact that the person is a person employed in a managerial or confidential capacity, and

• (b) for the purposes of any of the provisions of this Part respecting grievances with respect to action resulting in termination or suspension, a reference to an “employee” includes a former employee or a person who would be a former employee but for the fact that at the time of the person’s termination or suspension, the person was a person employed in a managerial or confidential capacity; (grief)

member

member, in respect of a member of the Board, includes a full-time member and a part-time member; (commissaire)

parties

parties means

• (a) in relation to collective bargaining, arbitration or a dispute, an employer and a bargaining agent, and

• (b) in relation to a grievance, an employer and the employee who presented the grievance; (parties)

person employed in a managerial or confidential capacity

person employed in a managerial or confidential capacity means any person who

• (a) is employed in a position confidential to the person occupying the recognized position of Speaker of the Senate, Speaker of the House of Commons, Clerk of the Senate, Clerk of the House of Commons, Administrator of the House of Commons, Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod, Sergeant-at-Arms or Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel of either House,

• (b) is employed as parliamentary counsel in either House or as legal counsel to a committee of either or both Houses, or

• (c) is employed by an employer and, in connection with an application for certification of a bargaining agent for a bargaining unit, is designated by the Board, or, in any case where a bargaining agent for a bargaining unit has been certified by the Board, is designated in prescribed manner by the employer or by the Board on objection thereto by the bargaining agent, to be a person

  • (i) who has executive duties and responsibilities in relation to the development and administration of employer programs,

  • (ii) whose duties include those of a personnel administrator or who has duties that cause the person to be directly involved in the process of collective bargaining on behalf of the employer,

  • (iii) who is required by reason of the duties and responsibilities of that person to deal formally on behalf of the employer with a grievance presented in accordance with the grievance process provided by this Part,

  • (iv) who is employed in a position confidential to any person described in paragraph (b) or subparagraph (i), (ii) or (iii), or

  • (v) who is not otherwise described in subparagraph (i), (ii), (iii) or (iv) but who, in the opinion of the Board, should not be included in a bargaining unit by reason of his duties and responsibilities to the employer; (personne occupant un poste de direction ou de confiance)

prescribed

prescribed means prescribed by regulation of the Board; (règlement et réglementaire)

strike

strike includes a cessation of work or a refusal to work or to continue to work by employees in combination or in concert or in accordance with a common understanding, or a slow-down of work or other concerted activity on the part of employees designed to restrict or limit output; (grève)

Vice-Chairman

Vice-Chairman[Repealed, 2003, c. 22, s. 182]

Vice-Chairperson

Vice-Chairperson means a Vice-Chairperson of the Board. (vice-président)

General

Application

Marginal note:Rights, etc., not affected

• 4 (1) Nothing in this Part abrogates or derogates from any of the privileges, immunities and powers referred to in section 4 of the Parliament of Canada Act.

• Marginal note:Non-application to certain persons

  (2) This Part does not apply to or in respect of

  • (a) the staff of any member of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada holding the office of a minister of the Crown;

  • (b) the staff of the member of the Senate occupying the recognized position of

    • (i) Leader of the Government in the Senate,

    • (ii) Leader of the Opposition in the Senate,

    • (iii) Government Whip in the Senate, or

    • (iv) Opposition Whip in the Senate;

  • (c) the staff of the member of the House of Commons occupying the recognized position of

    • (i) Leader of the Opposition in the House of Commons,

    • (ii) Chief Government Whip in the House of Commons, or

    • (iii) Chief Opposition Whip in the House of Commons;

  • (d) the staff of the member of the House of Commons occupying the recognized position of Leader or Whip of a party that has a recognized membership of twelve or more persons in the House of Commons;

  • (e) the staff of any other individual Member of Parliament;

  • (f) the staff employed to provide research or associated services to the caucus members of a political party represented in Parliament; or

  • (g) persons employed on a temporary basis by a committee of one or both Houses of Parliament.