Work force adjustment

Last updated: June 3, 2019

This section describes the roles and responsibilities of the parties involved in managing work force adjustment.

Process description

Work force adjustment happens when the deputy head decides that the services of one or more indeterminate employees are no longer needed beyond a specified date due to:

More information

Employee responsibilities

The deputy head may provide guaranteed reasonable job offers to affected employees. If the deputy head is unable to do so, they must communicate this fact in writing to affected employees.

If an opting employee (the employee who is being laid off) wishes to remain in the core public administration, they may be able to exchange (or “alternate”) positions with a non-affected employee who is willing to leave. This is called the “alternation process.”

If an opting employee does not receive a guarantee of a reasonable job offer from the deputy head, nor find another employee with whom to exchange positions, they then have 3 options. For more on the alternation process and employee options, consult with human resources or your applicable work force adjustment directive.

The employee is responsible for:

Opting status: Employees with no guaranteed reasonable job offers

If a reasonable job offer is unavailable, the employee will receive a letter confirming their status (affected or surplus). They will also receive information about their options.

If the employee selects option A (12-month surplus priority period) or option B (transition support measure) and wants a pension waiver (must be 55 to 59 years of age with at least 10 years of service), the employee is responsible for:

Manager responsibilities

The manager is responsible for:

The manager will inform human resources if the employee is declared surplus or provided with a guaranteed reasonable job offer.

The manager will provide:

If required, the manager will assist with the alternation process.

Deputy head or delegated authority responsibilities

The delegated authority is responsible for authorizing leave without pay to pursue education when this option is available to the employee.

Either the deputy head or the delegated authority is responsible for confirming that the employee:

Human resources responsibilities

Human resources is responsible for:

Guaranteed reasonable job offers

If there are guaranteed reasonable job offers, human resources is responsible for informing the employee of the different options associated with the guaranteed reasonable job offers.

No guaranteed reasonable job offers

If there are no guaranteed reasonable job offers, human resources are responsible for:

  • issuing affected or surplus letters to employees
    • sending copies, under cover of a pay action request form, by encrypted email, fax or mail to the Pay Centre Mail Facility
  • explaining the terms of option A
  • coordinating information-sharing if employee selects option C
  • maintaining and providing a list of names of surplus employees or alternates to the Pay Centre
  • validating whether a section 34 manager also has staffing delegation to sign an affected or surplus letter

Alternation

Alternations must occur within 120 days of the other employee having been notified that their services are no longer required. Human resources is responsible for:

  • issuing a letter of offer within the 120-day time frame
  • sending the letter, under cover of a pay action request form, by encrypted email, fax or mail to the Pay Centre Mail Facility

Note

The date of alternation must be specified, and employees must exchange positions on that same day.

Finance responsibilities

Finance is responsible for the section 33 authorization of the transaction in Phoenix.

Surplus or lay-off priority periods

In cases where the organization does not offer guaranteed reasonable job offers, finance is responsible for issuing related payments on their behalf. These related payments may be for travel, relocation, retraining, or any other authorized costs incurred by surplus employees and laid-off persons.

Trusted source responsibilities

Upon receipt of a termination notice, the trusted source is responsible for authenticating the signatures on paper requests before they are sent by a department to the Pay Centre, for example:

Pay Centre responsibilities

Where applicable, the Pay Centre is responsible for:

Pension Centre responsibilities

If the opting employee selects option A or B and wants a pension waiver, the Pension Centre is responsible for determining how to submit the pension reduction waiver request form.

Pension reduction waiver request (2429) (accessible only on the Government of Canada network) for employees of the core public service

Date modified: