Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act (S.C. 2005, c. 46)

Marginal note:Power to temporarily assign other duties

• 51.1 (1) A chief executive may temporarily assign other duties to a public servant who is involved in a disclosure or a complaint in respect of a reprisal if the chief executive believes on reasonable grounds that the public servant’s involvement has become known in the public servant’s workplace or that the temporary assignment is necessary to maintain the effective operation of the workplace.

• Marginal note:Public servants who may be assigned other duties

  (2) For the purposes of this section, the public servants involved in a disclosure or a complaint in respect of a reprisal are

  • (a) the public servant who made the disclosure and every public servant who is the subject of the disclosure;

  • (b) the public servant who filed the complaint and every public servant who is alleged to have taken the reprisal to which the complaint relates; and

  • (c) every public servant who is a witness or potential witness in the investigation, if any, relating to the disclosure or in any proceeding dealing with the complaint.

• Marginal note:Duration

  (3) The assignment may be for a period of up to three months, but the chief executive may renew the assignment one or more times if he or she believes that the conditions giving rise to it continue to exist on the expiry of a previous period.

• Marginal note:Duties

  (4) Subject to subsection (7), the duties that may be assigned must be in the same portion of the public sector in which the public servant is employed and must be comparable to the public servant’s normal duties.

• Marginal note:Consent

  (5) Subsection (1) applies to a public servant, other than a public servant who is the subject of the disclosure or who is alleged to have taken the reprisal, as the case may be, only if the public servant consents in writing to the assignment. The assignment is deemed not to be a reprisal if the public servant’s consent is given.

• Marginal note:Not disciplinary action

  (6) The assignment of other duties to a public servant who is the subject of the disclosure or who is alleged to have taken the reprisal, as the case may be, is deemed not to be a disciplinary action.

• Marginal note:Duties in other portion of the public sector

  (7) A public servant may be temporarily assigned duties in another portion of the public sector if both the chief executive of that other portion and the public servant consent to the assignment and the duties are comparable to the public servant’s normal duties. The assignment is deemed not to be a reprisal or a disciplinary action if the public servant’s consent is given.

Marginal note:Judicial review

• 51.2 (1) For the purposes of section 18.1 of the Federal Courts Act,

  • (a) a public servant who has made a disclosure to the Commissioner under section 13 is deemed to be directly affected by any report made by the Commissioner in relation to the disclosure;

  • (b) a public servant or former public servant who files a complaint under subsection 19.1(1) is deemed to be directly affected by a decision of the Commissioner to refuse to deal with or to dismiss the complaint; and

  • (c) a party to a proceeding before the Tribunal is deemed to be directly affected by a decision of the Tribunal in relation to that proceeding.

• Marginal note:Rights of action

  (2) Nothing in this Act affects any right of action that a public servant may otherwise have in relation to any act or omission giving rise to a dispute that does not relate to his or her terms or conditions of employment.

Marginal note:Authority to act for Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police

51.3 The Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police may authorize a Deputy or Assistant Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to exercise the powers or perform the duties and functions of the Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police as a chief executive in respect of section 11, subsection 19.4(2), paragraph 19.6(1)(b), subsections 19.8(1) and 19.9(1), paragraphs 22(g) and (h), subsections 26(1), 27(1) and (3), 28(1) and 29(3) and sections 36 and 50.

Excluded Organizations

Marginal note:Obligation of excluded organizations

52 As soon as possible after the coming into force of this section, the person responsible for each organization that is excluded from the definition of public sector in section 2 must establish procedures, applicable to that organization, for the disclosure of wrongdoings, including the protection of persons who disclose the wrongdoings. Those procedures must, in the opinion of the Treasury Board, be similar to those set out in this Act.

Marginal note:Order to make provisions of Act applicable

53 The Governor in Council may, by order, direct that any provision of this Act applies, with any modifications that may be specified in the order, in respect of any organization that is excluded from the definition of public sector in section 2.

Five-year Review

Marginal note:Review

54 Five years after this section comes into force, the President of the Treasury Board must cause to be conducted an independent review of this Act, and its administration and operation, and must cause a report on the review to be laid before each House of Parliament on any of the first 15 days on which that House is sitting after the review is completed.

Transitional

54.1 [Repealed, 2010, c. 12, s. 1681]

54.2 [Repealed, 2010, c. 12, s. 1681]

Marginal note:Continuation

54.3 Disclosures under the Treasury Board Policy on the Internal Disclosure of Information Concerning Wrongdoing in the Workplace that are being dealt with on the coming into force of this section are to be continued as though they had been made under this Act.

Consequential Amendments

Access to Information Act

55 [Amendment]

55.1 [Amendment]

Canada Evidence Act

56 [Amendment]

Federal Courts Act

56.1 [Amendment]

Financial Administration Act

56.2 [Amendment]

56.3 [Amendment]

56.4 [Amendment]

Official Languages Act

56.5 [Amendment]

Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act

57 [Amendment]

Privacy Act

58 [Amendment]

58.1 [Amendment]

Coordinating Amendments

• 59 (1) [Repealed, 2006, c. 9, s. 225]

• (2) and (3) [Amendments]

Coming into Force

Marginal note:Order in council

• 60 Footnote ^*(1) Subject to subsection (2), the provisions of this Act, other than section 59, come into force on a day or days to be fixed by order of the Governor in Council.

  • Return to footnote ^*[Note: Section 59 in force on assent November 25, 2005; Act, other than section 59 and the reference to the “Canada Pension Plan Investment Board” in Schedule I, in force April 15, 2007, see SI/2007-43.]

• Marginal note:Canada Pension Plan Investment Board

  Footnote ^*(2) The reference to the “Canada Pension Plan Investment Board” in Schedule 1 comes into force, in accordance with subsection 114(4) of the Canada Pension Plan, on a day to be fixed by order of the Governor in Council .

  • Return to footnote ^*[Note: The reference to the “Canada Pension Plan Investment Board” in Schedule 1 repealed before coming into force, see 2008, c. 20, s. 3.]