"Pay in Arrears" Issues Resolved

Collective Bargaining

Oct 17, 2013

Since Treasury Board announced it would be moving to a pay in arrears systems as part of its “pay modernization” initiative, bargaining agents have put pressure on the government to provide details on how this transition would be implemented without adversely impacting its 275,000 employees.

Through consultations with the Office of the Chief Human Resource Officer (OCHRO), bargaining agents worked with the employer to find workable solutions. As of October 15, we have reached a tentative agreement with TBS that that won’t claw back FIs’ salaries.

According to this agreement, current federal public servants’ salary and benefits will continue uninterrupted and will not be affected by this transition. To be clear, public servants will receive their full salary and benefits in each pay period and this transition will not result in the reduction of salary or benefits that they are entitled to be paid. The measure that the employer is adopting will ensure that public servants receive their full pay and benefits during what would otherwise have been a transitional two week waiting period. Because existing employees who have benefited from this transitional measure will have received all salary payments to which they are entitled, they will not receive a salary payment two weeks after the”struck off strength” date as will be the case for new employees who will be placed on pay in arrears upon hiring.

New employees who start their employment after the implementation of the new system will receive their first pay at most four weeks after their start date. They will receive their final payment at the latest two weeks following departure – upon retirement or termination of employment.

ACFO is pleased that we were able to arrive at a resolution that will avoid hardships for public servants in making the transition to this new pay system.

For more information in this matter, please contact ACFO Director of Labour Relations Scott Chamberlain at schamberlain@acfo-acaf.com or call (613) 728-0695 ext. 225, toll-free 1-877-728-0695.

17/10/2013