ARCHIVED CD 2004-006

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Appendix A

May 25, 2004

SUBJECT: Implementation of Pay Equity for the Translation (TR) Group

1. PURPOSE

1.1 The purpose of this directive is to provide compensation advisors with information on the implementation of the pay equity agreement for the TR Group.

1.2 In this text, use of the masculine is generic and applies to both men and women.

2. BACKGROUND

2.1 Representatives of the Canadian Association of Professional Employees (CAPE) and the Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) reached an agreement on December 18, 2003, to settle the complaint filed under sections 10 and 11 of the Canadian Human Rights Act concerning the TR Group. This agreement was first ratified by employees currently in the TR Group who are members of CAPE, then approved by the Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC) on February 10, 2004, and finally approved by all parties on February 20, 2004. It is required that the pay equity agreement be implemented within 120 calendar days from the date of authority (February 20, 2004). Consequently, eligible employees in the TR Group should receive their pay equity adjustments by June 19, 2004.

The criteria for this pay equity agreement are similar to the Personnel Administration (PE) Group pay equity agreement. The only differences between the two agreements are the retroactive period, the payment amount, and the eligibility in acting situations. As a result, modifications will be required to the existing pay equity programs to accurately process the retroactive payments for employees in the TR Group.

3. POLICY

3.1. Eligibility

3.1.1 This settlement applies to all current and former employees who were or are employed by a department or agency listed in Schedule 1, Part 1 of the Public Service Staff Relations Act (PSSRA), and appointed to a TR position at any time during the period commencing on April 1, 1990. All current and former employees, represented and excluded, are subject to the agreement. This comprises indeterminate, part-time (including those working less than one third of the hours of full-time employees), casual, term and seasonal employees. Individuals working under contract or employed through an agency or separate employer are excluded from this agreement. Students are not entitled to the pay equity payments even though they are performing the work of the TR Group.

3.1.2 The retroactive adjustment will be calculated on the actual periods of service in the TR Group, Bargaining Unit Designator (BUD) Code 31300. This adjustment will be reduced by periods of leave without pay (LWOP), with the exception of maternity leave where the employee received maternity benefits. Employees on maternity leave will receive the full pay equity entitlement for the period that they received maternity allowance payments. The maximum period payable for a maternity allowance is 17 weeks.

3.1.3 Employees whose substantive positions are in the TR Group but were acting outside the TR Group during any or all of the retroactive period will be entitled to the lump sum payment based on their substantive positions. Employees whose substantive positions are outside the TR Group, but were acting TR's during the retroactive period, will be eligible for the retroactive lump sum payment prorated on a daily basis for the period of acting service.

3.1.4 The pay equity adjustment amounts are to be prorated for part-time employment based on the assigned work week (AWW) during the retroactive period. Additional hours for part-time employees during the period from April 1, 1990 to April 18, 2003 are not to be recalculated to reflect the pay equity adjustments.

3.1.5 Employees who were on educational leave and in receipt of an educational allowance prior to April 19, 2003 are not entitled to any pay equity adjustment for that period. Employees in receipt of worker's compensation benefits will not be entitled to any retroactive pay equity adjustments for the period of leave without pay.

3.2. Factors

3.2.1 The retroactive adjustment covers the period from April 1, 1990 to April 18, 2003. The retroactive payments are to be considered pay for purposes of the Public Service Superannuation Act (PSSA) but not for any other purposes or benefits related to salary. The pay equity retroactive adjustment is considered to be all inclusive as recalculations are not to be made on salary related benefits such as promotions, acting assignments, overtime, severance pay and unused leave for this period. There is no provision for interest payments in this agreement. All adjustments will be automatically charged to a special departmental financial coding.

3.2.2 For the retroactive period from April 1, 1990 to April 18, 2003, employees shall be entitled to receive a retroactive lump sum payment based upon the following annual amounts:

April 1, 1990 to March 31, 1991: $301
April 1, 1991 to March 31, 1992: $744
April 1, 1992 to March 31, 1993: $319
April 1, 1993 to March 31, 1994: $688
April 1, 1994 to March 31, 1995: $705
April 1, 1995 to March 31, 1996: $684
April 1, 1996 to March 31, 1997: $560
April 1, 1997 to March 31, 1998: $445
April 1, 1998 to March 31, 1999: $596
April 1, 1999 to March 31, 2000: $1,829
April 1, 2000 to March 31, 2001: $2,973
April 1, 2001 to March 31, 2002: $3,864
April 1, 2002 to March 31, 2003: $3,845
April 1, 2003 to April 18, 2003: $3,845 (annual rate)

3.2.3 In the case of deceased employees or former employees who have since died, any payments owed will be made payable to the estate. The administrator of the estate will be responsible for payment distribution.

3.2.4 All employees who are in a TR position as of April 19, 2003 will be entitled to an increase of $3,845 in their annual basic rate of pay. All salary related benefits effective on or after April 19, 2003 are to be recalculated by compensation advisors taking into account the new rate of pay.

3.2.5 Disability Insurance (DI) and Long-term Disability Insurance (LTD) benefits will be subject to the terms and conditions of the DI and the LTD plans. For additional information, refer to Section 3.11.7 (for DI) and Section 4.8.17 (for LTD) of the Insurance Administration Manual (IAM).


4. PROCEDURES/INSTRUCTIONS

4.1. Pay Equity Adjustments

The last Treasury Board employing department will be responsible for the issuance of pay equity adjustment payments for all current and former employees who have worked in various departments during the retroactive period from April 1, 1990 to April 18, 2003. The retroactive payments for that period are all inclusive as recalculations are not to be made on salary related benefits such as promotions, acting assignments, overtime, severance pay and unused leave for this period. There is no provision for interest payments in this agreement.

4.2. Reports

The following reports will be produced in late April 2004 to facilitate the work of compensation advisors.

4.2.1. Pay Equity Account Select Report

This report will list all accounts with service and/or employment periods in the TR Group (BUD Code 31300) from April 1, 1990 to date, including LWOP records. This report can be used to verify the accuracy of the historical information on the Salary/Service History (SSH) that will be utilized to produce the automated payment for all 7B and 7C accounts.

4.2.2. Dual Employment/Remuneration Report

This report will list all accounts with dual employment/remuneration, i.e. all accounts for which there is a Code "1" in Field 19 and a Code "02", "13" or "64" in Field 39 of the Master Employee Record (MER). The report will be forwarded to both departments, where applicable, for additional adjustments as required.

4.2.3. Educational Leave Report

This report will list all accounts in the affected group paid using entitlement Code 077 - Educational Allowance during the retroactive period. Compensation advisors will be required to recover any overpayments for the periods of educational leave.

4.2.4. No Master Account Report

This report will be produced, if applicable, to identify affected accounts when records are found on the SSH but the MER does not exist on the Regional Pay System (RPS) for these accounts.

Compensation advisors will be required to create a taken on strength (TOS) transaction, using employee type Code "X", and a struck off strength (SOS) transaction for these accounts. These transactions must be processed prior to the automated retroactivity process as identified in Subsection 4.4, in separate updates but within the same pay period to ensure that regular pay cheques are not produced.

4.3. Entitlement Codes

The following new entitlement codes have been created for the processing of CAPE pay equity adjustments:

Code Name
334 Translation Pay Equity Retro Adjustment - Superannuable
335 Translation Pay Equity Adjustment - Non-Superannuable

The two entitlement codes must be added to the department's expenditure database (FIN Subsystem -- Line Object Table) by the department's finance officer.

4.4. Processing Schedule

The following are the implemented or anticipated processing dates for the implementation of the CAPE pay equity:

  • March 18, 2004 -- Update Pay Rates Control File (PRCF) with new rates of pay retroactive to April 19, 2003 (including the pay equity amount);
  • March 18, 2004 -- Produce automated retroactivity for the period from April 19, 2003 to March 24, 2004 for 7C and 7B pay accounts;
  • April 5, 2004 -- Permanent line update for the TR Group with rates effective April 19, 2004 for 7C accounts only;
  • April 15, 2004 -- Update PRCF with new rates of pay retroactive to April 19, 2003 for the excluded TR-04 and TR-05;
  • By April 30, 2004 -- Production of reports;
  • May 27 to May 31, 2004 -- Input of additional transactions such as letters of authority (tax waivers) for the retroactive period from April 1, 1990 to April 18, 2003; and
  • May 31, 2004 -- Produce automated retroactivity for the period from April 1, 1990 to April 18, 2003 for 7C and 7B accounts.

5. PROCESS

5.1. Retroactivity

The retroactive payment for the period from April 1, 1990 to April 18, 2003 will be automatically calculated and paid for accounts with periods of service in the TR Group in a 7B or 7C pay cycle. The automated retroactive period will be paid using the new entitlement codes 334 for pensionable service and 335 for non-pensionable service and will be split by fiscal year and taxation year. All periods of service in the TR Group during this period of retroactivity in a 7A pay cycle will have to be input by the compensation advisors.

5.2. Retroactive Payments for SOS Accounts

If the account is currently in SOS status and the employee received a return of contributions (ROC), pension contributions will not be withheld from the adjustment payments. If the account was SOS, the employee received a ROC and has since returned to work, pension contributions will be calculated and withheld from the payment of pensionable service as identified by entitlement Code 334.

5.3. Acting

Employees whose substantive positions are within the TR Group but were acting outside the TR Group will receive the adjustment based on their substantive positions. Employees whose substantive positions are outside the group but were acting as a TR during the retroactive period will receive the retroactive lump sum payment prorated on a daily basis for the period of acting service.

The automated payment will be based on the SSH records. If the earliest SSH record for an employee whose substantive position is in the TR Group reflects an acting position in a group other than the TR Group, then the automated payment will be paid effective from the date the employee returns to his substantive position (end of acting period). In these instances, compensation advisors will be required to report an additional adjustment for employees based on their substantive position for the acting period.

5.4. Part-time Service

Employees who have periods of part-time service during the retroactive period will have the automated payment prorated to the hours identified as the AWW. The message "WC9 - AWW < SWW - Verify Pmt - Adjt. May be req'd" will be produced so that the compensation advisors can verify the automated payment and report adjustments if required.

5.5. Non-Standard Work Week (NSWW)

Employees who work a non-standard work week (NSWW) and have Code 1 or 3 in Field 34 will have an automated payment produced. The message "WC8 - NSWW = 3, Verify Pmt - Adjt. May be Req'd" will be produced so that the compensation advisors can verify the automated payment and report adjustments if required.

5.6. LWOP

The pay equity adjustment amount will be reduced by periods of LWOP, pre-retirement transition leave (PRTL) and past periods of leave with income averaging (LIA) with the exception of maternity leave.

The eligibility criteria for this period stipulate that employees who have periods of maternity leave - Reason Code "K" and who were in receipt of maternity benefits are eligible for the payment and the period of maternity leave is not to be used to reduce the adjustment amount. During the automated adjustment process, periods of maternity leave - Reason Code "K", where the employee was active on the day immediately prior to the start of the LWOP Reason Code "K" period, will be considered as active service for a period from the "temporarily struck off strength (T-SOS)" date up to the earliest of the following dates:

  • 17 weeks from the start of the LWOP period; or
  • the "retaken on strength (RE-TOS)" date; or
  • the end of the adjustment period which is April 18, 2003.

Compensation advisors will be required to verify eligibility and adjust the amount paid, if applicable.

If a LWOP record is identified for a part-time account and the "from" or "to" date of the LWOP is not within the retroactive period, the message "WS8 - LWOP on S/S, Verify Pmt. - Manual Adjustment may be req'd" will be produced so that the compensation advisors can verify the automated payment and report adjustments if required.

5.7. Pension Deficiencies

Pension deficiencies for periods of LWOP will be withheld from the supplementary payment, at the single or double rate based on the reason code for the LWOP. A notification will be produced when the double rate contributions are recovered for periods of LWOP so that the pay office personnel can verify the deficiencies collected. Pension regulations stipulate that effective May 1991, the deficiencies for the first three months of LWOP are to be collected at single rate but, for the purposes of this agreement, the deficiencies will be calculated based on the LWOP code. Pension contributions will be collected at the rate identified for the year stated in the effective to date of the retroactive period. The rates are as follows:

YEAR SINGLE RATE DOUBLE RATE (LWOP PERIOD)
1990 4.7% 9.4%
1991 4.7% 9.4%
1992 4.7% 9.4%
1993 4.7% 9.4%
1994 4.7% 9.4%
1995 4.7% 9.4%
1996 4.7% 9.4%
1997 4.5% 9.0%
1998 4.3% 8.6%
1999 4.0% 8.0%
2000 1 4.0% 8.0%

1 For the year 2000, a 4.0% single rate will be used for the first three months up to March 29, 2000. Effective March 30, 2000, the contribution rate for the current year (2004) will be used, namely, 4.0% single rate (double rate 8.0%) on the pensionable earnings up to the yearly maximum pensionable earnings (YMPE) for 2004 ($40,500), then 7.5% single rate (double rate 15.0%) on the pensionable earnings in excess of the YMPE. The rate of pension indexing for 2004 can be found in the Superannuation Administration Manual Special Bullelin 2004-001.

For years 2001, 2002, and 2003, pension deficiencies will be collected at the rate of 4.0% on the pensionable earnings up to the YMPE and then 7.5% on the pensionable earnings in excess of the YMPE for that year.


5.8. Death in Service

If the account is SOS with Reason Code 17 - Death in Service and the effective date of SOS is prior to February 21, 2004, the automated retroactive payments will not be produced and message NA8 - "Death in Service - Payment must be Handled Manually" will be generated and forwarded to the pay office. Pay office personnel must ensure that statutory deductions are not withheld and the statements of remuneration paid (T4, Relevé 1) do not include the pay equity adjustment amounts. If the account is SOS with the Reason Code 17 - Death in Service and the date is on or after February 21, 2004, then the normal process applies and the payments will be produced automatically.

5.9. Increase to Basic Rate Effective April 19, 2003

All employees in a TR position on March 18, 2004 had their salary automatically revised to the new rates as per the attached Appendix A. The revised salary reflected the $3,845 increase in the annual rate of pay as stipulated in the agreement. The new rate of pay was reflected on the regular pay for pay period 7, 2004 (regular cheque dated April 7, 2004).

The retroactive adjustment for the period from April 19, 2003 to March 24, 2004 for 7C accounts and the retroactive adjustment for the period from April 19, 2003 to March 10, 2004 for 7B accounts was automatically produced on March 18, 2004, using the existing automated process used for collective agreements.

These retroactive payments have been based on the same formula as those applied for the period from April 1, 1990 to April 18, 2003, with the exception of LWOP for maternity leave. Periods of maternity leave that occurred between April 19, 2003 and March 24, 2004 will reduce the automated payment produced for this period. Compensation advisors will be required to make the necessary adjustments.

5.10. Recalculations Effective April 19, 2003

Recalculations of all salary related events, such as promotions, actings, lateral transfers, maternity benefits and overtime, will be required where the "Effective From" date is April 19, 2003, or later. Compensation advisors will be required to report the adjustments following the instructions in Section 6 of this directive as well as modifying any ongoing entitlements as required.

5.11. Letters of Authority

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) and the " ministère du Revenu du Québec " have authorized the use of the tax waiver form published by TBS. This form can be used by active and inactive employees for an amount up to $10,000 if they have the available Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) contribution room. Employees are to complete this form and forward it to their personnel office, for retention purposes.

A waiver of $10,000 cannot be completed for more than one pay equity agreement adjustment. Departments will be required to control the amount of the waiver and the residual, if any, after each pay equity payment is issued, until such time as all of the allowable amount of the waiver is used. Transactions to apply tax waivers to the automated retroactivity must be input by compensation advisors using the Entitlement Commence (ENC) screen and codes 395 and/or 396 by the deadline identified in the processing schedule (Subsection 4.4).

5.12. DI, LTD and SDB Premiums

DI, LTD and Supplementary Death Benefit (SDB) premiums must be adjusted effective March 2004 to reflect the premium calculations based on the revised salary. Since these new rates of pay will not be reflected on the employees'regular pay until April 7, 2004, adjustments will be required for the month of March 2004. Adjustments can be recovered from a retroactive payment using the Supplementary Deduction (SDD) screen or from a regular cheque using a Deduction Commence (DEC) screen with the appropriate deduction codes and a closed period in the past.

6. INSTRUCTIONS

All adjustment transactions reported by compensation advisors must be split by taxation year and for March 29, 2000 (to differentiate between the two pension funds).

6.1. Periods of Service Associated with a 7A Pay Cycle

Compensation advisors will be required to report all periods of service associated with a 7A pay cycle during the retroactive period from April 1, 1990 to April 18, 2003. The retroactive payments for these periods of service will not be automated. A report of all pay action codes (PAC) 33 processed during the retroactive period, totaled by fiscal year for all employees in the TR Group, will be produced by Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC). These periods of service will be reported using the ENC screen and the new entitlement Code 335 and must be split by taxation year.

6.2. Vacation Pay and Payment in Lieu of Statutory Holidays

Compensation advisors will be required to report all adjustments to vacation pay (Code 073) and payment in lieu of statutory holidays (Code 173) for part-time accounts for the period from April 19, 2003 to March 24, 2004 for 7C accounts or for the period from April 19, 2003 to March 10, 2004 for 7B accounts. This entitlement will not be automatically calculated and paid on the retroactive adjustment nor on any adjustments resulting from the recalculations. The adjustment is to be reported using an Entitlement Adjustment (EAJ) screen.


6.3. Recalculations of Allowances

Compensation advisors will be required to recalculate all salary based allowances such as maternity benefits, separation benefits and overtime with an "Effective From" date of April 19, 2003, or later. The screen and entitlement code to be used for the adjustment will be based on the allowance adjustment being reported.

6.3.1 For adjustments to separation benefits due to recalculation, the Termination Entitlement (TEC) screen is to be used for SOS accounts. If the employee has since returned to work, these entitlement codes are to be reported on an EAJ screen.

6.4. Statement of Qualifying Retroactive Lump Sum Payment (QRLSP)

The QRLSP (PWGSC-TPSGC 37) will automatically be produced in February 2005 for this adjustment. This statement will provide employees with a breakdown of the amounts applicable to each year in the retroactive period and will allow them to apply to the CRA for a recalculation of their previous income tax returns.

7. INQUIRIES

7.1 Any inquiries on the information contained in this document should be addressed to your PWGSC Compensation Services Office.



Original Signed by
R. Jolicoeur

R. Jolicoeur
Director General
Compensation Sector
Accounting, Banking and Compensation

Reference(s) : BUD 31300

APPENDIX A: TR Group -- Rates of Pay

Treasury Board

Group: Translation (TR)

Annual Rates of Pay

Signing Date: February 23, 2004

Expiry Date: April 18, 2005

Effective Dates:

F 2002-04-19

X 2003-04-19 Pay Equity Adjustment

A 2003-04-19

C 2004-04-19

BUD 31300 TR              
ZONE Step 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08
  TR-01                
0 From 37691 38769 39845 40922 41998      
  X 41536 42614 43690 44767 45843      
  A 42574 43679 44782 45886 46989      
  C 43638 44771 45902 47033 48164      
  TR-02                
0 From 41570 43613 45658 47699 49748 51785 53831 56142
  X 45415 47458 49503 51544 53593 55630 57676 59987
  A 46550 48644 50741 52833 54933 57021 59118 61487
  C 47714 49860 52010 54154 56306 58447 60596 63024
  TR-03                
0 From 51830 54267 56699 59132 61568 64005 66754  
  X 55675 58112 60544 62977 65413 67850 70599  
  A 57067 59565 62058 64551 67048 69546 72364  
  C 58494 61054 63609 66165 68724 71285 74173  
  TR-04                
0 From 57214 59548 61883 64216 66551 68883 71666 74354
  X 61059 63393 65728 68061 70396 72728 75511 78199
  A 62585 64978 67371 69763 72156 74546 77399 80154
  C 64150 66602 69055 71507 73960 76410 79334 82158
  TR-05                
0 From 72691 74844 76998 79152 81306      
  X 76536 78689 80843 82997 85151      
  A 78449 80656 82864 85072 87280      
  C 80410 82672 84936 87199 89462      

Treasury Board

Rates of Pay Not Authorized by a Collective Agreement

Group: Translation (TR)

Annual Rates of Pay

Signing Date: March 2, 2004

Expiry Date: April 18, 2005

Effective Dates:

F 2002-04-19

A 2003-04-19

C 2004-04-19

BUD 31300 TR      
ZONE Step 01 02 03 04
  TR-04-ppi        
0 From MIN 57,214 MAX 74,354
  A MIN 62,585 MAX 80,154
  C MIN 64,150 MAX 82,158
  TR-05-ppi        
0 From MIN 72,691 MAX 81,306
  A MIN 78,449 MAX 87,280
  C MIN 80,410 MAX 89,462