Information Bulletin: Continuous Employment, Continuous Service and Continuous/Discontinuous Service
Date:
To: Heads of Human Resources Directors/Chiefs of Labour Relations and Compensation
This bulletin is to provide departments and agencies of the Core Public Administration with a Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat interpretation regarding leave without pay and severance termination.
Leave Without Pay in Excess of Three Months
The following procedure is to be followed when specific leave provisions and/or the Leave - General article of the applicable collective agreement does not cover leave without pay in excess of three months. These situations are to be treated like any other leave without pay in excess of three months.
Except as otherwise specified in the applicable collective agreement, when an employee is granted a period of leave without pay exceeding three (3) months for reasons other than illness, this leave is deducted from ’continuous employment’ to calculate severance pay and from ’service’ to calculate vacation leave.
Furthermore, time spent on leave without pay for a period of more than three (3) months is not counted for pay increment purposes.
Leave Without Pay for Illness
When determining continuous employment, the collective agreement applicable is the one in effect when severance pay or payment in lieu of severance is paid. Consequently, since the current collective agreement for the Program and Administrative Services (PA) group provides for leave without pay for illness, employees in that group who took such leave between and will not have this period deducted from continuous employment.
Transitional Support Measures (TSM)
The same procedures apply with the Transitional Support Measures payment when the specific leave provisions and/or the Leave - General article of the applicable collective agreement does not talk about leave without pay in excess of three months.
Severance Pay for Reason of Lay-Off
There is no maximum limit in the number of weeks payable stipulated in the provision for severance pay for lay-off. When the relevant collective agreement provides for the severance termination, the following procedures are to be followed for each payment option.
- Single payment (option a) already paid-out:
Continuous employment over the 30 years maximum benefit is counted in determining the severance pay entitlement (see example in Annex A). - Single payment at the time of termination of employment (option b) already deferred:
The full period of continuous employment is counted when determining the severance pay entitlement (see example in Annex A). - Partial payment (option c) already paid-out and deferred:
A date is selected to represent the number of weeks paid for the partial payment. This partial period of continuous employment is then reduced from the total continuous employment period (see example in Annex A).
Please direct questions to your Departmental Corporate Labour Relations or Corporate Compensation Official who, if required, will direct your questions to the following e-mail address: Contact Interpretations by E-mail Interpretations@tbs-sct.gc.ca.
Michael Holt
A/Senior Director Core Public Administration
Compensation Management
Compensation and Labour Relations
Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer
Annex A: Example of Calculation of Severance Pay for Lay-off
Scenario / Facts: Group and Level: AS-3
Bargaining Unit: Program and Administrative Services (PA)
Continuous Employment Date: 23 June 1978
Lay-Off: 22 June 2012
| Severance Termination – PA 22 June 2011 Continuous Employment: 34 years | Severance Pay for Lay-Off – PA 63.01 (a) (i) 23 June 2012 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Option | Total Years of Continuous Employment | Weeks Paid - Payment in Lieu of Severance (PIL) | Total Continuous Employment less Period Previously Paid | Entitlement - First complete year (for the first complete year of continuous employment, 4 weeks’ pay for employees with more than 20 years of continuous employment…) |
Plus Each Additional Week (… plus one week’s pay for each additional week of continuous employment…) |
Total Weeks Severance Payable On Lay-off |
Table 1 Notes
|
||||||
| Option A | 34 years | 30 wkstable note 1(maximum | 4 years | 1st complete year = 4 weeks | + 3 additional weeks of continuous employment | 7 weeks |
| Option B | 34 years | 0 | 34 years | 1st complete year = 4 weeks | + 33 additional weeks of continuous employment | 37 weeks |
| Option C | 34 years | 15 weekstable note 2 | 19 years | 1st complete year = 4 weeks | + 18 additional weeks of continuous employment | 22 weeks |
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