Recent federal budgets have focused on cutting costs and taken aim the workers who deliver critical public services across the country. When indeterminate jobs are cut in the federal public service, this process is referred to as workforce adjustment (WFA), and there are collective agreement provisions to limit to harm to these workers.

We recognize that job cuts affect all of our members, and term employees to a greater degree given their job precarity. Term employees are the first to lose their jobs during workforce adjustment. For those who remain employed, they also face the suspension of the term to indeterminate employment conversion as per the Directive on Term Employment. 

What are the rights and entitlements of term employees? 

• Term and casual employees are not covered by the Workforce Adjustment appendix found in your collective agreement. 
• Term employees are represented by the union and have access to paid vacation, sick leave, and the Public Service Health Care Plan (after 6 months of work). However, their rights are limited by legislation and policies. 
• Term employees are entitled to a 30-day written notice period if their term isn't renewed or is terminated early.  
• The Public Service Employment Act states that, at the end of their term, term employees cease to be considered employees of the public service. This means that the end of a term is not considered a layoff or termination under the public service legislation. 
• Managers have control and discretion regarding the length of term contracts, the renewal or non-renewal of a term, and the end date of their term, subject to these and any other legislative requirements. 
• The Public Service Employment Act Section 58(1) states that an employee ceases to be an employee and is not entitled to priority status for placement within the federal public service when their term contract expires.

Nonrenewal or early termination of term employment: Formal recourse available? 

• The legislation and policies governing term employment in the core public service give the employer significant discretion. The Federal Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board does not have jurisdiction to hear grievances based the expiration or non-renewal of a term contract. There are also no rights to file complaints under the Federal Public Sector Labour Relations Act (FPSLRA). 
• In cases where there is concrete evidence demonstrating that discrimination was a motive for the non-renewal of a term contract, an employee may contact their local union representative to discuss the possibility of filing a grievance and/or human rights complaint. The union will assess these grievances on a case-by-case basis and can only support those that show a clear connection between the identified protected characteristic and the employer’s decision to end the contract. 

Terms employee benefits when employment ends 

The table outlines the status of benefits, including the Public Service Health Care Plan (PSHCP), Public Service Dental Care Plan (PSDCP), Pension, Disability Insurance (DI), Employee Assistance Plan (EAP), and severance pay, when a term contract is ended early. 

Term employment conversion to indeterminate 

The Public Service Employment Act and the Treasury Board’s Directive on Term Employment specify that term employees who have been employed in the same department for a period of three continuous years, without a break of 60 consecutive calendar days or more, must be appointed as an indeterminate employee at the level of their substantive position.  

This conversion, however, is not always automatic. Some periods of employment are excluded from this calculation; those are spelled out in the Directive’s Appendix (A.2.2.8.). As well, there is an exception that allows managers to suspend the accumulation of service towards the three years required.  

Many departments are currently invoking this suspension because of the federal government’s decision to cut budgets and jobs. Unfortunately, the Treasury Board’s Directive on Term Employment and Policy on People Management specifies that when a WFA situation is declared departments can invoke an exception that allows them to “exclude periods of specified term employment from the calculation of the cumulative working period” toward term conversion to indeterminate status. Sometimes this is called ‘stopping the clock’. 

Put another way, this stops the accumulation of service toward the required three years to become indeterminate. If your term rollover to indeterminate is paused due to WFA, it should be credited when the workforce adjustment is over, if you are still on strength.    

What does it mean when departments decide to “stop the clock” on the accumulation of service for the conversion of term employees? 

• The Treasury Board’s Directive on Term Employment (4.2.3) allows departments to stop the accumulation of service toward the required three years to become indeterminate if, “after reviewing the department’s financial situation over the two-to-three-year planning horizon, the deputy head has determined that including further cumulative work periods towards the conversion of term employees to indeterminate status would result in workforce adjustment.” 
  • This means that the clock is stopped and there will be no further term conversions to indeterminate until further notice. 
• The Treasury Board’s Policy on People Management (C1.2 & C1.2.2) allows departments to “exclude periods of specified term employment from the calculation of the cumulative working period” on the basis that “it can be established that converting the employee’s tenure from specified term to indeterminate would result in a workforce adjustment situation in the organization overall”. 
  • In these situations, departments must notify term employees and the union and subsequently provide employees with yearly updates about whether the situation has changed. 

The Union: Advocacy, bargaining and local support 

The Union and its components are advocating for the rights of members, both term and indeterminate. At all levels, the union advocates that departments respect and adhere to their obligations in collective agreements, policies, and legislation. This includes working to ensure that members who are term employees are treated in a fair and transparent manner.  

We continue to:  

• Pressure the government to reduce its reliance on term employment to reduce the precarity of these workers  
• Urge departments to consider fairness and equity when making decisions about any changes that affect employees’ job security 
• Advocate for the resumption of service accumulation towards term conversion as soon as possible 
• Advocate for term employees with three years of service to be made indeterminate before externally staffing for equivalent positions 
• Bargain collective agreement language demanding transparency around how the term service accumulation suspension is operationalized 
• Ensure the employer follows its directives and policies by informing the union when they are suspending term conversion and that term employees are notified 30 days before the date when the suspension is taking place. 
• Monitor impacts on employment equity 
• Make treatment of term employees a standing agenda item at all Union Management Committee meetings and Joint Workforce Adjustment Committees 

 What can I do at the local level? 

• Ensure the employer is abiding by its policies including required dates to extend contracts and to give notice of contract nonrenewal 
• Inform your union representatives immediately if you hear the employer is hiring indeterminate employees into positions occupied by term employees 
• Speak to your union representative if you become aware of any back-to-back, short-term renewals (for example, one-month contract extensions) 
• Include discussion about workload, hiring, retention and budget spending at your local union-management meetings 
• Keep your union representatives appraised of issues in your local so they can bring them forward to the employer 

 If you have further questions, please contact your local union representative.