ARCHIVED CD 1998-003

Warning This Web page has been archived on the Web.

Archived Content

Information identified as archived is provided for reference, research or recordkeeping purposes. It is not subject to the Government of Canada Web Standards and has not been altered or updated since it was archived. Please contact us to request a format other than those available.

February 10, 1998

Ottawa, Canada
K1A 0S5

SUBJECT: New Collective Agreement - Computer Systems Administration Group

1. PURPOSE

1.1 The purpose of this directive is to provide you with information concerning the revised Computer Systems Administration (CS) Group collective agreement.

2. BACKGROUND

2.1 The new collective agreement for the CS group Bargaining Unit Designator (BUD code 303) was signed on December 2, 1997.

3. POLICY

3.1 The duration of the collective agreement is from May 1, 1997, to April 30, 1999 inclusive.

3.2 The Public Service Staff Relations Act requires that each employee receive all pay adjustments within 90 calendar days of the signing of the collective agreement. Consequently, the 90-day implementation period expires on March 2, 1998.

3.3 The collective agreement provides for the following:

  • A restructure of the rates of pay effective May 1, 1997.
  • The payment of one additional increment.
  • Economic increases effective May 1, 1997, and May 1, 1998.
  • An increase to the percentage rate of the premium pay in lieu of designated holidays for part-time employees (entitlement code 173). The percentage rate was amended from 4% to 4.25%.
  • The payment of a new Terminable Allowance.

4. PROCEDURES

4.1 The revised rates of pay were included on version 463 of the Pay Rates Control File (production date of December 4, 1997).

4.2 The rates of pay were revised in pay period 26/97 for 7C accounts and pay period 01/98 for 7A/7B accounts.

4.3. Restructuring of Pay Rates

Prior to determining the corresponding economic increase rate of pay effective May 1, 1997, ("A" scale of rates), the Paying Office will first position the employee at the rate of pay in the "X" scale of rates (restructured rates) which is nearest to, but not less than the employee's former rate of pay.

Note: The departmental Pay and Benefits Specialist will be responsible for reporting the May 1, 1997, economic increase at a higher rate for employees who are deemed to have moved to the next step in the "X" line following the application of pay note 1 (b) and for reporting the additional increment following the application of pay note 2.

4.4. Economic Increases

Once the restructured rate of pay has been determined in accordance with paragraph 4.3 above, the employee shall be paid, effective May 1, 1997, in the "A" scale of rates at the rate of pay which is immediately below the employee's rate of pay in the "X" scale of rates.

Effective May 1, 1998, an employee shall be paid in the "B" scale of rates at the rate of pay which is immediately below the employee's rate in the "A" scale of rates.

In verifying the retroactive payment cheques, particular attention should be paid to the pay accounts that had a leave with income averaging (LIA), a pre-retirement transition leave (PRL) or an ongoing leave without pay (LWOP) transaction during the retroactive period. For these accounts, it is possible that retroactivity payments were not reduced correctly and as such may have been overpaid.

4.5. Terminable Allowance

In an effort to resolve retention problems, the Employer will provide a terminable allowance (TA) to incumbents of positions classified at the CS-1 through CS-5 levels for the performance of duties in the Computer Systems Administration Group.

The TA payment will end on April 30, 1999. Consequently, the payment is to be made for the duration of the CS collective agreement only.

The TA is to be paid in 3 different stages for a total of 18 distinct lump sum payments.


Stage 1

  • One initial lump sum payment due on December 2, 1997, (date of signing of the collective agreement).

Stage 2

  • Sixteen monthly lump sum payments starting on January 1, 1998, and continuing until and including April 1, 1999.

Stage 3

  • One final lump sum payment due on the final day of the collective agreement (April 30, 1999).

The lump sum payment criteria are based on the employee's pension status (contributor versus non-contributor) and employee type status (full-time versus part-time) on the due date.

The continuing monthly TA payments covering the period from January 1, 1998, to April 1, 1999, inclusive (stage 2) and the final lump sum payment due on April 30, 1999, (stage 3) are all subject to a 10-day eligibility rule.

The TA payment must be visible and pure. In other words, each and every TA payment will be processed via the supplementary cheque issue mode and only the TA payment will be included on the supplementary cheque.

The TA shall not be paid to, or in respect of, a person who ceased to be a member of the bargaining unit (struck off strength), for whatever reason, prior to the date of signing of the collective agreement (December 2, 1997).

The details concerning each of these 3 different TA payment stages are included under section 4.5.5 below.

4.5.1 A new process is being developed at Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC) to automate the TA payments, to the fullest extent possible, for all cycles except for 6C and 7A accounts.

Any eligible CS employees on pay cycles 6C or 7A, who are active on the payment due date, will be excluded from this new automated process.

For these accounts, departmental pay intervention is required to request the applicable payment.

It is anticipated that programming of the TA will be completed by February 16, 1998.

4.5.2 Entitlement code 227 (Terminable Allowance - CS Group) has been assigned in the Regional Pay System for purposes of paying the TA.

The corresponding rate base for entitlement code 227 is "0" (lump sum).

If a new or separate line object is to be assigned in the department's accounting records to identify payments made with entitlement code 227, the Financial and Reporting Products Directorate (address below) must be advised of the line object allocated in order for the pay expenditure control file to be updated accordingly.


Financial and Reporting Products Directorate
11B1, Phase III
Place du Portage
Hull, Quebec
K1A 0S5

4.5.3 The TA payment is not to be included for purposes of computing any other entitlements.

4.5.4 The TA is subject to Income Tax, Canada Pension Plan, Québec Pension Plan, Disability/Long Term Disability (DI/LTD) Insurance, Employment Insurance, Public Service Superannuation (PSSA) and Supplementary Death Benefit (SDB) deductions.

DB, DI and LTD deficiencies will be collected from the regular pay process.

The pension contributions will be calculated based on the pension status code present on the employee's master file on the actual production date of the supplementary cheque.

For all situations where an employee had a change in pension status, a message (N86) will be produced for the Pay Office which will be responsible for adjusting the pension contributions, if applicable.

4.5.5. Stage 1 - Initial Payment

The lump sum payment is to be effected on December 2, 1997, the date of signing of the CS collective agreement. Therefore, December 2, 1997, is considered the payment due date for the first lump sum payment of the TA.

For pay purposes, this lump sum payment is deemed to cover one day only (December 2, 1997).

Since programming will extend beyond December 2, 1997, this first payment will be dated on the first possible production date after the TA is fully operational.

There is also a possibility that several of the continuing monthly payments could also be included with the December 2, 1997 payment depending on the programming time frame. However, the cheque stub will reflect the actual due date(s).

All employees under Bargaining Unit Designator (BUD) code 303 (CS) who are "active" on the day that the lump sum payment is due (December 2,1997) are eligible to receive this first lump sum payment.

The definition of "active" on the due date of December 2, 1997, is interpreted as actually receiving salary on December 2, 1997. This would therefore exclude all employees who are temporarily struck off strength (T-SOS) on that day (for whatever reason) or for which there is a leave without pay (LWOP) transaction for the full day of December 2, 1997.

Note: Leave Without Pay (LWOP) codes 346 (Pre-Retirement Transition Leave (PRL)) and 383 (ongoing LWOP) will not be considered for this purpose.

The lump sum payment is based on the classification level of the employee's substantive position on the due date of December 2, 1997.

Part-time employees are entitled to the lump sum payment on a prorated basis.

That is, the lump sum is paid in the same proportion as the assigned weekly hours of work (AWW, field 33) compare with the normal weekly hours of work of full-time employees (SWW, field 32).

The lump sum payment criteria are based on the employee's pension status (contributor versus non-contributor) and employee type status (full-time versus part-time) on the due date of December 2, 1997.


4.5.6. Stage 2 - Monthly Payments

For pay purposes, the payment is deemed to be one day only (the first day of every month from January 1, 1998, to April 1, 1999, inclusive).

The due date is deemed to be the first day of every month from January 1, 1998, to April 1, 1999 inclusive.

Starting on January 1, 1998, and continuing until and including April 1, 1999, the employee shall be paid the TA for each calendar month for which he receives at least 10 days pay in the previous month. There are no exceptions to the 10-day eligibility rule.

Ten days pay for full-time employees is the equivalent of 75 hours of work in the month.

The policy for determining the 10-day eligibility rule for part-time employees has been deemed to be twice the number of hours in the employee's assigned work week.

Due to the inability of the Regional Pay System to correctly determine the exact number of hours worked by a part-time employee in a specific month, departments will be responsible for requesting any TA payment for these employees.

If an employee meets the 10-day eligibility in the previous month, he will receive the full amount of the TA payment regardless of the LWOP status on the first of the month (due date). Therefore, if the employee is not active on the first of the month but has met the 10-day requirement in the previous month, he is entitled to the full amount of the allowance.

All employees under BUD code 303 (CS) on the payment due date will be paid this continuing monthly lump sum payment automatically, with the exception of employees working on a part-time basis on the payment due date or employees working on a full-time basis on the payment due date but for which a portion or the entire previous month was worked on a part-time basis.

The effective "from" and "to" dates that will be imposed on these payments will be the actual payment due date except for situations where the account is presently in Struck-off-strength (SOS) status, in which case the SOS date (minus half a day) will be used instead.

The intent of the TA is to retain CS employees on staff. Consequently, if the employee ceases to be employed in the bargaining unit, for whatever reason, prior to meeting the requirements for the allowance, then the employee forfeits the right to the allowance.

The 16 continuing monthly lump sum payments of the TA will be dated the first day of every month beginning January 1, 1998, up to and including April 1, 1999. The TA supplementary cheques will be processed on the first cheque issue production date after the actual due date. However, the actual due date (1st of every month) will be reflected on the cheque stub.

The TA payable is the amount specified for the level prescribed in the certificate of appointment of the substantive position. However, when the employee is required to perform the duties at a higher classification level within the CS Group, the TA payable shall be proportionate to the time at each level.

4.5.7. Stage 3 - Final Payment

The due date of this final lump payment is April 30, 1999.

For pay purposes, this final lump sum payment is deemed to cover one day only (April 30, 1999).

This final payment will be dated on the first possible cheque issue date after April 30, 1999. However, the cheque stub will reflect the actual due date of April 30, 1999.

All employees under BUD code 303 (CS) who are "active" on the day that the lump sum payment is due (April 30, 1999) are eligible to receive this final lump sum payment.

The definition of "active" on the due date of April 30, 1999 is to be interpreted as actually receiving salary on April 30, 1999. This would therefore exclude all employees who are T-SOS on that day (for whatever reason) or for which there is a LWOP transaction for the full day of April 30, 1999.

Note: LWOP codes 346 (PRL) and 383 (ongoing LWOP) will not be considered for this purpose.

An employee shall be paid the final TA on the due date of April 30, 1999, as long as the employee receives at least 10 days pay during the month of April 1999 (April 1, 1999, to April 30, 1999 inclusive).

Ten days pay for full-time employees is the equivalent of 75 hours of work in the month.

The policy for determining the 10-day eligibility rule for part-time employees has been deemed to be twice the number of hours in the employee's work week.

Due to the inability of the Regional Pay System to correctly determine the exact number of hours worked by a part-time employee in a specific month, departments will be responsible for reporting any TA payment for these employees.

The TA payable is the amount specified for the level prescribed in the certificate of appointment of the substantive position.

However, when the employee is required to perform the duties at a higher classification level within the CS Group, during the period April 1, 1999 to April 30, 1999, the TA payable shall be proportionate to the time at each level.

4.5.8 Departmental personnel will be required to adjust any TA payment amount after the TA payment cheque has been processed. Adjustments to payments are to be effected via dialogue EAJ (for a payment) or dialogue EAR (for a recovery) with rate base "0" (lump sum).


4.5.9. REPORTS

No Payment Report

In order to ensure the program integrity and that no data is lost during the process, a "no payment" report will be produced.

The "no payment" report will identify accounts for which the system did not create a TA payment. For these accounts, manual adjustments may be required by departmental personnel.

The following situations will be printed on the "no payment" report with the appropriate reason identified:

  • When the employee was not in active status on the payment due date (stages 1 and 3).
  • Period of employment for which the pay cycle code is equal to 6C (monthly account).
  • Period of employment for which the pay cycle code is equal to 7A (time summary reporting).
  • Any employee paid on a part-time basis on the payment due date or during a portion or the totality of the previous month (stages 2 and 3).
  • Where the employee did not meet the 10-day eligibility rule (stages 2 and 3).
  • Previous service on "dual remuneration" status.
  • Period of employment for which the pension type code is equal to 13 (dual employment).
Dual Remuneration - Different Departments Report

This report will contain any accounts selected by the program and identified as receiving dual remuneration in two different departments.

The report will contain the account identification for both employment and will be produced in two sets; the first set sorted according to the first department identification and the second set sorted according to the second department identification.

Dual Remuneration - Same Department Report

This report will contain any accounts selected by the program and identified as receiving dual remuneration in the same department (i.e. entitlement code 027 or 232 present on the employee's master file).

4.6 Departments are to report the amended percentage rate for the premium pay in lieu of designated holidays for part-time employees (entitlement code 173) as well as the required retroactive adjustment.

5. INQUIRIES

5.1 Any request for information regarding the foregoing should be addressed to your Public Works and Government Services Canada Compensation Services Office.


Original Signed by
P. Charko

P. Charko
Director General
Compensation Sector
Government Operational Service

Reference: BUD/IUN303