CD 2012-002

Subject: Union Dues - Clarification of Union Dues Process for employees who are Temporarily Struck Off Strength (T-SOS), Retaken on Strength (RE-TOS) and Struck Off Strength (SOS)

January 27, 2012 Updated February 15, 2012

1. Purpose

1.1. The purpose of this directive is to provide clients with clarifications on how to process union dues when an account has a status of T-SOS (except when placed in pending status), RE-TOS or SOS.

2. Background

2.1. Many questions have been raised regarding the union dues process when an account is placed in a T-SOS, RE-TOS or SOS status. To assist departments, we are clarifying the Regional Pay System (RPS) process and Pay Office (PO) interventions as it relates to union dues in these situations.

3. Policy

3.1. The Treasury Board Secretariat Directive on Union Dues took effect on March 1, 2011 and replaced the Treasury Board Manual, Chapter 11, entitled "Union Dues Check-off", dated May 1, 1995.

4. Procedures/Instructions

4.2. If the T-SOS or SOS is effective the first of the month, union dues will not be automatically deducted.

Updated 4.2.1. However, if the effective from date indicator of the T-SOS or SOS is in the afternoon (PM), sufficient earnings may exist. Therefore, the compensation advisor will have to establish if union dues are owed to the bargaining agent. If union dues are owed, the compensation advisor will request the departmental finance office to remit the amount due to the bargaining agent.

Updated 4.2.2. The compensation advisor will then send a written notice to the PO requesting that the PO enters this amount in field 953 (Net Overpayment - Current year) to be recovered from the employee as it is considered a debt to the Crown. The notice will include the employee's name, the department, paylist, Personal Record Identifier (PRI) and the amount of dues paid to the bargaining agent.

Updated 4.2.3. Once the debt is recovered from the employee's pay, the compensation advisor will send a written notice with the employee's name, department, paylist, PRI and the amount recovered in the current year to inform the PO to update the union dues element for tax slip purposes.

Updated The PO will increase the current year Master Employee Record (MER) Element 717 (Union dues) in the amount of the dues that were recovered, regardless of the year the debt was created.

4.3. Accounts on other pay cycles, paid in arrears, or with special situations are excluded from the automated process described above. In those excluded situations, the PO performs the manual adjustments, including the deduction of regular union dues that are owed for the month in question.

NOTE: The list of accounts excluded from the T-SOS and SOS automated RPS process can be found in the Personnel-Pay Input Manual (PPIM 5-13).

4.4. The department remains responsible for verifying that union dues were correctly deducted, when owed or refunded, if taken in error.

Updated 4.5.1. If the effective date of the RE-TOS is not reported in the month of the RE-TOS in the RPS, the PO will process any union dues arrears owed for that month. If the account is subsequently placed in T-SOS or SOS prior to the cut off date of the cycle 2 regular pay update, the union dues will not be automatically deducted. If union dues are owed for that month, the PO will process the dues provided there is a payment due to the employee.

| 4.5.2 If no payment is due to the employee, PO cannot process the union dues deduction. A note will be placed by the PO in the free form text (FFT) screen to indicate that the dues were not collected. The compensation advisor must forward the union dues for that month to the bargaining agent via the departmental finance office.

Updated 4.5.3 Once the dues are paid to the bargaining agent by the finance office, the compensation advisor will need to submit a request to the PO to modify the message in the FFT screen.

Updated The compensation advisor will then send a written notice to the PO requesting that they add this amount in field 953, as it is considered a debt to the Crown. Please refer to sections 4.2.2. and 4.2.3. above for detailed instructions.

5. Personnel-Pay Input Manual (PPIM)

5.1. The PPIM will be updated to include the information contained in this directive.

6. Inquiries

6.1. Any inquiries on the information contained in this document should be addressed to your Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC) Compensation Services Office.

Reference(s): CJA 9006-13-1, 9006-13-4