Public Sector Compensation Act (S.C. 1991, c. 30)

Short Title

Marginal note:Short title

1 This Act may be cited as the Public Sector Compensation Act.

Interpretation

Marginal note:Definitions

• 2 (1) In this Act,

  bargaining agent

  bargaining agent has the same meaning

  • (a) in the case of employees in respect of whom Part I of the Canada Labour Code applies, as in subsection 3(1) of that Act,

  • (b) in the case of employees in respect of whom the Parliamentary Employment and Staff Relations Act applies, as in section 3 of that Act, and

  • (c) in the case of employees in respect of whom the Public Service Staff Relations Act applies, as in section 2 of that Act; (agent négociateur)

  compensation

  compensation means all forms of pay, benefits and perquisites paid or provided, directly or indirectly, by or on behalf of an employer to or for the benefit of an employee, except those paid or provided

  • (a) under the Supplementary Retirement Benefits Act or any Act of Parliament or regulations mentioned in Schedule I to that Act,

  • (a.1) under the Public Service Superannuation Act, the Canadian Forces Superannuation Act, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Superannuation Act or the Special Retirement Arrangements Act,

  • (b) pursuant to a directive, policy, regulation or agreement that is issued, made or amended from time to time

    • (i) on the recommendation of the National Joint Council of the Public Service and with the approval of the Treasury Board, or

    • (ii) unilaterally by the employer of the employee or bilaterally by the employer and the employee, as represented by the bargaining agent, and that is in respect of a subject-matter that, in the opinion of the Treasury Board, is the same as or related to the subject-matter of a directive, policy, regulation or agreement that is issued, made or amended as described in subparagraph (i),

  • (b.1) pursuant to the Work Force Adjustment Directive issued on the recommendation of the National Joint Council of the Public Service and with the approval of the Treasury Board, that came into force on December 15, 1991, as amended from time to time on the recommendation of the Council and with the approval of the Treasury Board or in accordance with this Act or section 11 of the Financial Administration Act, in respect of any subject-matter, but only in the circumstances arising from a transfer referred to in paragraph 11(2)(g.1) of that Act,

  • (c) in one lump sum payment that may be made payable, on or after the coming into force of this Act, to or for the benefit of an employee whose rate of pay does not exceed $27,500 and that is in an amount equal to

    • (i) where the lump sum is payable to or for the benefit of an employee whose rate of pay does not exceed $27,000, $500, or

    • (ii) where the lump sum is payable to or for the benefit of an employee whose rate of pay exceeds $27,000 but does not exceed $27,500, that portion of $500 that the rate of pay for that employee exceeds $27,000, or

  • (d) in respect of severance pay or accumulated vacation or annual leave in the circumstances arising from a transfer referred to in paragraph 11(2)(g.1) of the Financial Administration Act; (rémunération)

  compensation plan

  compensation plan means the provisions, however established, for the determination and administration of compensation, and includes such provisions contained in collective agreements or arbitral awards or established bilaterally between an employer and an employee, unilaterally by an employer or by or pursuant to any Act of Parliament; (régime de rémunération)

  employee

  employee means any person who performs duties and functions that entitle that person to a fixed or ascertainable amount or rate of pay, but does not include any person to whom the Locally-Engaged Staff Employment Regulations apply or any person who is engaged locally outside Canada and whose position is wholly or partly excluded from the operation of the Public Service Employment Act under section 41 of that Act; (salarié)

  strike

  strike has the same meaning

  • (a) in the case of employees in respect of whom Part I of the Canada Labour Code applies, as in subsection 3(1) of that Act,

  • (b) in the case of employees in respect of whom the Parliamentary Employment and Staff Relations Act applies, as in section 3 of that Act, and

  • (c) in the case of employees in respect of whom the Public Service Staff Relations Act applies, as in section 2 of that Act; (grève)

  wage rate

  wage rate means a single rate of pay or range of rates of pay, including cost-of-living adjustments, or, where no such rate or range exists, any fixed or ascertainable amount of pay, but does not include any allowance, bonus, differential, premium or other emolument or benefit paid in respect of circumstances specified by order of the Treasury Board. (taux de salaire)

• Marginal note:Expiration of compensation plans

  (2) For the purposes of this Act, where a compensation plan does not provide for an expiration date, the plan shall be deemed to expire on the day before the day on which wage rates under the plan would normally be revised.

Application

Marginal note:Application

• 3 (1) This Act applies to employees employed in or by

  • (a) the departments of the Government of Canada or other portions of the public service of Canada, set out in Schedule I;

  • (b) the agencies, boards, commissions or corporations set out in Schedule II; and

  • (c) the Senate, House of Commons, Library of Parliament, Parliamentary Protective Service or office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer.

• Marginal note:Idem

  (2) This Act applies to

  • (a) the staff of ministers of the Crown and of members of the Senate and the House of Commons,

  • (b) directors of corporations set out in Schedule II,

  • (c) the members and officers of the Canadian Forces, and

  • (d) the members and officers of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police,

  and the staff, directors, members and officers shall, for the purposes of this Act, be deemed to be employees.

• Marginal note:Idem

  (3) This Act applies to persons appointed by the Governor in Council to a position in a portion of the public service set out in Schedule I or to an agency, board, commission or corporation set out in Schedule II, and any persons so appointed shall, for the purposes of this Act, be deemed to be employees.

• Marginal note:Idem

  (3.1) This Act, except subsections 5(1) and (2), section 6, subsections 9(1) to (3) and sections 10 and 11, applies to the following persons who shall, for the purposes of this Act, except those provisions, be deemed to be employees:

  • (a) the Chief Electoral Officer;

  • (b) the Commissioner of Official Languages for Canada; and

  • (c) the Governor and Deputy Governor of the Bank of Canada.

• Marginal note:Exclusion

  (4) For greater certainty, this Act does not apply to persons engaged as independent contractors.

Binding on Her Majesty

Marginal note:Binding on Her Majesty

4 This Act is binding on Her Majesty in right of Canada.

Extension of Compensation Plans

Marginal note:Extension of compensation plans

• 5 (1) Subject to section 11, every compensation plan for employees to whom this Act applies that was in effect on February 26, 1991, including every compensation plan extended under section 6, shall be extended for a period of seventy-two months beginning on the day immediately following the day on which the compensation plan would, but for this section, expire.

• Marginal note:No increase in compensation

  (1.1) Notwithstanding any provision of this Act other than subsection (1.2) or a provision of any compensation plan, no employee shall be entitled to the incremental increases, including those based on the attainment of further qualifications or the acquisition of skills, merit or performance increases, in-range increases, performance bonuses or other similar forms of compensation that would, but for this subsection, form part of their compensation plan, during the period of twenty-four months beginning on the day on which this subsection comes into force.

• Marginal note:Period not included as experience

  (1.2) The period referred to in subsection (1.1) shall not be counted for the purposes of calculating any increase in any form of compensation referred to in that subsection that is based on years of experience.

• Marginal note:Where prior undertaking to implement compensation plan

  (2) For the purposes of subsection (1), a compensation plan shall be deemed to have been in effect on February 26, 1991 if the parties to the plan had, before that date, agreed in writing to establish the plan to have effect on the expiration of the previous compensation plan and the plan is established on or after that date without change.

• Marginal note:Particular case

  (3) Each of the compensation plans for the persons mentioned in subsection 3(3.1) that was in effect on December 10, 1992 shall be extended for a period of forty-eight months beginning on the day immediately following the day on which the compensation plan would, but for this subsection, expire.

Marginal note:Extension of compensation plan that has already expired

6 Subject to section 11, where a compensation plan for employees to whom this Act applies would, but for this section, have expired before February 26, 1991 and no new compensation plan was established before February 26, 1991, or on or after that date in accordance with subsection 5(2), the compensation plan shall be extended for a period of twelve months beginning on the day immediately following the day on which the plan would have expired.

Marginal note:Terms and conditions

• 7 (1) Notwithstanding any other Act of Parliament except the Canadian Human Rights Act but subject to this Act, the terms and conditions of

  • (a) every compensation plan that is extended under section 5 or 6, and

  • (b) every collective agreement or arbitral award that includes a compensation plan referred to in paragraph (a)

  shall continue in force without change for the period for which the compensation plan is so extended.

• Marginal note:Exception where conversion or reclassification

  (2) The Treasury Board may change any terms and conditions of a compensation plan that is extended under section 5 or 6 or in respect of which section 11 applies, or of a collective agreement or arbitral award that includes such a compensation plan, if those terms and conditions are, in the opinion of the Treasury Board, in respect of a conversion or reclassification that is required to implement a new or revised classification standard.

• Marginal note:Extension where conversion or reclassification of a plan

  (2.1) Where, before December 10, 1992, the Treasury Board has, pursuant to subsection (2), changed any of the terms and conditions of a compensation plan to implement a new or revised classification standard, the new or revised compensation plan that is in effect as a result of that implementation shall be

  • (a) extended for a period of forty-eight months beginning on the day immediately following the day on which the compensation plan would, but for this subsection, expire; and

  • (b) deemed to include a provision to the effect that the wage rates in effect under the plan on the day on which the plan would, but for this subsection, expire shall not be increased for the forty-eight month period immediately following that day.

• Marginal note:Idem

  (2.2) Where, on or after December 10, 1992 but before the coming into force of this subsection, the Treasury Board has, pursuant to subsection (2), changed any of the terms and conditions of a compensation plan to implement a new or revised classification standard, the new or revised compensation plan that is in effect as a result of that implementation shall be

  • (a) extended for a period of twenty-four months beginning on the day immediately following the day on which the compensation plan would, but for this subsection, expire; and

  • (b) deemed to include a provision to the effect that the wage rates in effect under the plan on the day on which the plan would, but for this subsection, expire shall not be increased for the twenty-four month period immediately following that day.

• Marginal note:Authorized changes

  (3) The Treasury Board may authorize any change to any terms and conditions

  • (a) of a compensation plan that would, but for section 6, have expired before February 26, 1991; or

  • (b) of a collective agreement or arbitral award that includes a compensation plan referred to in paragraph (a).

• Marginal note:Where parties fail to agree

  (4) The Treasury Board may change any terms and conditions

  • (a) of a compensation plan that would, but for section 6, have expired before February 26, 1991, or

  • (b) of a collective agreement or arbitral award that includes a compensation plan referred to in paragraph (a)

  where the parties to the plan fail to agree to change those terms and conditions.

• Marginal note:Wage increases governed by section 10

  (5) The Treasury Board may not make or authorize any increase in wage rates pursuant to subsection (3) or (4) that is not in accordance with section 10.

• Marginal note:Work sharing agreement

  (6) Nothing in this section affects any work sharing agreement that is approved for the purposes of section 24 of the Unemployment Insurance Act.

Marginal note:Civilian Reduction Program

• 7.1 (1) Notwithstanding this Act or any other Act of Parliament except the Canadian Human Rights Act, the Treasury Board may

  • (a) fix the terms and conditions of the Civilian Reduction Program arising from the February 22, 1994 budget; and

  • (b) offer or give, to or on behalf of indeterminate employees of the Department of National Defence, Emergency Preparedness Canada and the Communications Security Establishment who are subject to that Program, payments under the Program.

• Marginal note:Merger with new program

  Footnote ^*(2) On or after the date of the coming into force of section 7.2,

  • (a) a payment under the Civilian Reduction Program shall not be offered or given pursuant to subsection (1) to or on behalf of an indeterminate employee of the Department of National Defence or Emergency Preparedness Canada unless that employee is a surplus employee within the meaning of the Work Force Adjustment Directive; and

  • (b) any employee referred to in paragraph (a) who has been offered a payment pursuant to subsection (1), whether before or after that date, but has not yet ceased to be an employee within the meaning of the Public Service Employment Act becomes subject to the program and section 7.2 applies to that employee, except that the payment is given in an amount and subject to any other terms and conditions respecting the payment fixed for the Civilian Reduction Program pursuant to subsection (1) and no other payment may be offered or given to that employee pursuant to section 7.2.

  • Return to footnote ^*[Note: Subsection 7.1(2), as enacted by 1995, c. 17, s. 2, ceases to be in force June 22, 1998, see 1995, c. 17, s. 6.]

• Marginal note:Definitions

  Footnote ^*(3) For the purposes of this section and sections 7.2, 7.3 and 7.4,

  program

  program means a program respecting early departure incentives, unpaid surplus status, lay offs and related matters arising from the February 27, 1995 budget; (programme)

  public service

  public service means the entities referred to in subsection 3(1); (administration publique)

  Work Force Adjustment Directive

  Work Force Adjustment Directive means the Work Force Adjustment Directive issued on the recommendation of the National Joint Council of the Public Service and with the approval of the Treasury Board, that came into force on December 15, 1991, as amended from time to time in accordance with subsections 7.3(2) and (3). (Directive sur le réaménagement des effectifs)

  • Return to footnote ^*[Note: Subsection 7.1(3), as enacted by 1995, c. 17, s. 2, ceases to be in force June 22, 1998, see 1995, c. 17, s. 6.]