Public Sector Equitable Compensation Act (S.C. 2009, c. 2, s. 394)

Marginal note:Power to require payment of costs

34 The Board may, in making an order under this Act, require the employer, the bargaining agent or the employer and the bargaining agent, as the case may be, to pay to the complainant all or any part of the costs and expenses incurred by the complainant as a result of making the complaint.

Marginal note:Regulations

35 The Governor in Council may make regulations

• (a) defining job group for the purposes of this Act;

• (b) respecting the content and form of plans prepared under this Act, including as a result of an order made under this Act;

• (c) prescribing anything that by this Act may be prescribed; and

• (d) generally for carrying out the purposes and provisions of this Act.

Marginal note:Prohibition against encouraging or assisting

36 Every employer and every bargaining agent shall refrain from engaging in any conduct that may encourage or assist any employee in filing or proceeding with a complaint under this Act.

Marginal note:Other prohibitions — employer

37 No employer and no person acting on an employer’s behalf shall refuse to employ or to continue to employ any person, or suspend or lay off any person or otherwise discriminate against any person with respect to employment, pay or any other term or condition of employment or intimidate, threaten or otherwise discipline any person, because the person

• (a) has testified or otherwise participated, or may testify or otherwise participate, in a proceeding under this Act; or

• (b) has filed a complaint or exercised any right under this Act.

Marginal note:Other prohibitions — bargaining agent

38 No bargaining agent and no person acting on a bargaining agent’s behalf shall

• (a) expel or suspend an employee from membership in the bargaining agent, or take disciplinary action against, or impose any form of penalty on, an employee because the employee exercised any right under this Act or refused to perform an act that is contrary to this Act; or

• (b) discriminate against a person with respect to membership in the bargaining agent, or intimidate or coerce a person or impose a financial or other penalty on a person, because that person

  • (i) has testified or otherwise participated, or may testify or otherwise participate, in a proceeding under this Act, or

  • (ii) has filed a complaint or exercised any right under this Act.

Marginal note:Complaints against employers

• 39 (1) The Board shall examine and inquire into any complaint made to it that an employer or a person acting on an employer’s behalf has contravened section 37.

• Marginal note:Complaints against employers

  (2) A complaint referred to in subsection (1) is to be examined and inquired into by the Board as if it were a complaint in respect of a contravention of paragraph 186(2)(c) of the Federal Public Sector Labour Relations Act. For greater certainty, if the complaint is made in writing, the written complaint is itself evidence that the contravention actually occurred and, if any party to the complaint proceedings alleges that the contravention did not occur, the burden of proving that it did not is on that party.

• Marginal note:Complaints against bargaining agents

  (3) The Board shall examine and inquire into any complaint made to it that a bargaining agent or a person acting on a bargaining agent’s behalf has contravened section 38.

• Marginal note:Complaints against bargaining agents

  (4) A complaint referred to in subsection (3) is to be examined and inquired into by the Board as if it were a complaint in respect of a contravention of paragraph 188(d) or (e) of the Federal Public Sector Labour Relations Act. If the complaint is made in writing, the written complaint is itself evidence that the contravention actually occurred and, if any party to the complaint proceedings alleges that the contravention did not occur, the burden of proving that it did not is on that party.

Marginal note:Contravention of section 37 or 38

40 Every employer, bargaining agent or other person who contravenes section 37 or 38 is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding $10,000.

Marginal note:Contravention of orders and certain provisions

• 41 (1) Every employer or bargaining agent who contravenes section 15, 22 or 36 or an order of the Board made under this Act is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding $50,000.

• Marginal note:Contravention of section 44

  (2) Every employer who contravenes section 44 is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding $25,000.

• Marginal note:Consent to prosecution

  (3) A prosecution for an offence under subsection (1) or (2) may be instituted only with the consent of the Board.

Marginal note:Bargaining agent deemed to be person

42 For the purposes of this Act, a bargaining agent is deemed to be a person.

Marginal note:Obligation to provide Board with reports

43 An employer shall, as soon as feasible after it has prepared a report referred to in section 7 or 22, provide the Board with the report.

Marginal note:Obligation to keep records

44 Every employer shall, in the prescribed manner, establish and maintain, for the prescribed period, prescribed records for the purpose of this Act.

Marginal note:Inconsistency or conflict

45 Nothing in this Act affects the application of the Federal Public Sector Labour Relations Act, but in the event of any inconsistency or conflict between this Act and that Act, the provisions of this Act prevail to the extent of the inconsistency or conflict.

Marginal note:Application of safety or security provisions

• 46 (1) Nothing in this Act is to be construed as requiring or permitting an employer, an employee, a bargaining agent or the Board to do or refrain from doing anything that is contrary to any instruction, direction or regulation given or made by or on behalf of the Government of Canada in the interest of the safety or security of Canada or of any state allied or associated with Canada.

• Marginal note:Order is conclusive proof

  (2) For the purposes of subsection (1), an order made by the Governor in Council is conclusive proof of the matters stated in it in relation to the giving or making of any instruction, direction or regulation by or on behalf of the Government of Canada in the interest of the safety or security of Canada or any state allied or associated with Canada.

Marginal note:Day determined under subsection 30(4)

47 If a complaint is made under section 11 after the first period that the employer was bound to comply with section 6 or 7 in respect of the job group that includes the complainant and before the second period that the employer was bound to comply with either of those sections in respect of that job group, the day that is referred to in subsection 30(4) in respect of that complaint is, despite that subsection, the day on which this Act came into force.

Marginal note:Application of subsection 12(1)

48 Subsection 12(1) applies only in respect of a collective agreement that expires on a day that is more than two years after the day on which this Act comes into force.

Marginal note:Application of subsection 12(2) and sections 13 to 22 and 24

49 Subsection 12(2) and sections 13 to 22 and 24 apply only in respect of a collective agreement that takes effect, or would take effect, on a day that is more than two years after the day on which this Act comes into force.

Marginal note:Period referred to in paragraph 33(3)(a)

• 50 (1) If a complaint filed under subsection 24(1) is in respect of the first collective agreement that takes effect on a day that is more than two years after the day on which this Act comes into force, the period referred to in paragraph 33(3)(a) is, despite that paragraph, the period that begins, subject to subsection (2), on one of the following days and that ends on the day on which the order is made:

  • (a) if the complainant was not a unionized employee on the day on which this Act came into force, the later of the day on which the complainant became a member of a bargaining unit to which the collective agreement applies and the day on which this Act came into force;

  • (b) if the complainant was, on the day on which this Act came into force, a member of a bargaining unit that was not a bargaining unit to which the collective agreement applies, the day on which the complainant became a member of a bargaining unit to which the collective agreement applies; or

  • (c) in the case of any other complainant, the day on which this Act came into force.

• Marginal note:Exception

  (2) The day referred to in each of paragraphs (1)(a) to (c) may not be earlier than the day on which the job class to which the complaint relates came into existence.