Public Service Employment Act (S.C. 2003, c. 22, ss. 12, 13 )
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Act current to 2024-08-18 and last amended on 2023-07-01. Previous Versions
PART 2Appointments (continued)
Casual Employment (continued)
Marginal note:Exception — Office of the Chief Electoral Officer
50.1 Despite subsection 50(2), the maximum period of employment of casual workers appointed in the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer — including the portions of the federal public administration in that Office in which the employees referred to in section 509.3 of the Canada Elections Act occupy their positions — for the purposes of an election held under that Act or a referendum held under the Referendum Act is 165 working days in one calendar year.
- 2007, c. 21, s. 40
- 2018, c. 31, s. 379
Marginal note:Exception
50.2 (1) Despite subsection 50(2), a person may be appointed as a casual worker to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for a period of more than 90 working days in one calendar year in the circumstances prescribed by regulations made under paragraph 22(2)(j).
Marginal note:Review
(2) The Commission may, on an annual basis, conduct a review of the exercise of the authority to appoint casual workers to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for more than 90 working days during the preceding calendar year.
- 2013, c. 18, s. 60
PART 3Deployments
Marginal note:Authority of deputy heads to deploy
51 (1) Except as provided in this or any other Act, a deputy head may deploy employees to or within the deputy head’s organization.
Marginal note:Deployment from separate agencies
(2) Except as provided in this or any other Act, a deputy head may deploy to the deputy head’s organization persons who are employed in a separate agency to which the Commission does not have the exclusive authority to make appointments if the Commission has, after reviewing the staffing program of the separate agency at the agency’s request, approved deployments from it.
Marginal note:Deployment within or between groups
(3) A deployment may be made within an occupational group or, unless excluded by regulations under paragraph 26(1)(a), between occupational groups.
Marginal note:Treasury Board directives and regulations
(4) A deployment to or within an organization named in Schedule I or IV to the Financial Administration Act shall be made in the manner directed by the Treasury Board and in accordance with any regulations of the Treasury Board.
Marginal note:Employment status preserved
(5) The deployment of a person may not
(a) constitute a promotion, within the meaning of regulations of the Treasury Board, in the case of an organization named in Schedule I or IV to the Financial Administration Act, or as determined by the separate agency, in the case of a separate agency to which the Commission has the exclusive authority to make appointments; or
(b) change a person’s period of employment from a specified term to indeterminate.
Marginal note:Consent to deployment
(6) No person may be deployed without his or her consent unless
(a) agreement to being deployed is a condition of employment of the person’s current position; or
(b) the deputy head of the organization in which the person is employed finds, after investigation, that the person has harassed another person in the course of his or her employment and the deployment is made within the same organization.
Marginal note:Previous position
52 On deployment, a person ceases to be the incumbent of the position to which he or she had previously been appointed or deployed.
Marginal note:Deployment not an appointment
53 (1) A deployment is not an appointment within the meaning of this Act.
Marginal note:Exceptions to priority rights
(2) A deputy head may deploy a person without regard to any other person’s right to be appointed under section 39.1 or subsection 41(1) or (4) or any regulations made under paragraph 22(2)(a).
- 2003, c. 22, s. 12 “53”
- 2006, c. 9, s. 104
- 2015, c. 5, s. 9
PART 4Employment
Marginal note:Oath or affirmation
54 A person appointed or deployed from outside that part of the public service to which the Commission has exclusive authority to make appointments shall take and subscribe an oath or solemn affirmation in the following form:
I, , swear (or solemnly affirm) that I will faithfully and honestly fulfil the duties that devolve on me by reason of my employment in the public service of Canada and that I will not, without due authority, disclose or make known any matter that comes to my knowledge by reason of such employment. (Add, in the case where an oath is taken, “So help me God” (or name of deity).)
Marginal note:Effective date of appointment or deployment
55 The appointment or deployment of a person from outside that part of the public service to which the Commission has exclusive authority to make appointments takes effect on the later of the date that is agreed to in writing by the deputy head and that person and the date on which the person takes and subscribes the oath or solemn affirmation set out in section 54.
Marginal note:Effective date of appointment
56 (1) The appointment of a person from within that part of the public service to which the Commission has exclusive authority to make appointments takes effect on the date agreed to in writing by that person and the deputy head, regardless of the date of their agreement.
Marginal note:Effective date of deployment
(2) The deployment of a person from within that part of the public service to which the Commission has exclusive authority to make appointments takes effect
(a) on the date agreed to in writing by that person and the deputy head, regardless of the date of their agreement; or
(b) if the person’s consent to the deployment is not required, on the date fixed by the deputy head.
Marginal note:Indeterminate employment
57 Subject to this Act, any other Act and regulations made under this or any other Act, the period of an employee’s employment is indeterminate unless the deputy head has specified a term of employment.
Marginal note:Term appointment or deployment
58 (1) Subject to section 59, an employee whose appointment or deployment is for a specified term ceases to be an employee at the expiration of that term, or of any extension made under subsection (2).
Marginal note:Extension by deputy head
(2) A deputy head may extend a specified term referred to in subsection (1), and such an extension does not constitute an appointment or a deployment or entitle any person to make a complaint under section 77.
Marginal note:Acting appointments
(3) This section does not apply in respect of appointments made on an acting basis.
Marginal note:Conversion to indeterminate
59 (1) Unless the employee requests otherwise of the deputy head, the period of employment of an employee who is employed for a specified term as a result of an appointment or deployment is converted to indeterminate in the employee’s substantive position, at the end of the cumulative period of employment specified by the employer in circumstances prescribed by the employer.
Marginal note:Not an appointment or deployment
(2) A conversion under subsection (1) does not constitute an appointment or a deployment or entitle any person to make a complaint under section 77.
Marginal note:Rate of pay on appointment
60 The rate of pay on appointment to a position shall be determined by the employer within the scale of rates of pay for that position or for positions of the same occupational nature and level as that position.
Marginal note:Probationary period
61 (1) A person appointed from outside the public service is on probation for a period
(a) established by regulations of the Treasury Board in respect of the class of employees of which that person is a member, in the case of an organization named in Schedule I or IV to the Financial Administration Act; or
(b) determined by a separate agency in respect of the class of employees of which that person is a member, in the case of an organization that is a separate agency to which the Commission has exclusive authority to make appointments.
Marginal note:Effect of appointment or deployment
(2) A period established pursuant to subsection (1) is not terminated by any appointment or deployment made during that period.
Marginal note:Termination of employment
62 (1) While an employee is on probation, the deputy head of the organization may notify the employee that his or her employment will be terminated at the end of
(a) the notice period established by regulations of the Treasury Board in respect of the class of employees of which that employee is a member, in the case of an organization named in Schedule I or IV to the Financial Administration Act, or
(b) the notice period determined by the separate agency in respect of the class of employees of which that employee is a member, in the case of a separate agency to which the Commission has exclusive authority to make appointments,
and the employee ceases to be an employee at the end of that notice period.
Marginal note:Compensation in lieu of notice
(2) Instead of notifying an employee under subsection (1), the deputy head may notify the employee that his or her employment will be terminated on the date specified by the deputy head and that they will be paid an amount equal to the salary they would have been paid during the notice period under that subsection.
Marginal note:Resignation
63 An employee may resign from the public service by giving the deputy head notice in writing of his or her intention to resign, and the employee ceases to be an employee on the date specified by the deputy head in writing on accepting the resignation, regardless of the date of the acceptance.
Marginal note:Laying off of employees
64 (1) Where the services of an employee are no longer required by reason of lack of work, the discontinuance of a function or the transfer of work or a function outside those portions of the federal public administration named in Schedule I, IV or V to the Financial Administration Act, the deputy head may, in accordance with the regulations of the Commission, lay off the employee, in which case the deputy head shall so advise the employee.
Marginal note:Selection of employees
(2) Where the deputy head determines under subsection (1) that some but not all of the employees in any part of the deputy head’s organization will be laid off, the employees to be laid off shall be selected in accordance with the regulations of the Commission.
Marginal note:Exception
(3) Subsection (1) does not apply where employment is terminated in the circumstances referred to in paragraph 12(1)(f) of the Financial Administration Act.
Marginal note:Effect of lay-off
(4) An employee ceases to be an employee when the employee is laid off.
Marginal note:Complaint to Board re lay-off
65 (1) Where some but not all of the employees in a part of an organization are informed by the deputy head that they will be laid off, any employee selected for lay-off may make a complaint to the Board, in the manner and within the time fixed by the Board’s regulations, that his or her selection constituted an abuse of authority.
Marginal note:Limitation
(2) No complaint may be made under subsection (1) against the decision to lay off employees, the determination of the part of the organization from which employees will be laid off or the number of employees to be laid off from that part.
Marginal note:Right to be heard
(3) A complainant, every other employee in the part of the organization referred to in subsection (1), the deputy head and the Commission — or their representatives — are entitled to be heard by the Board.
Marginal note:Lay-off set aside
(4) Where the Board finds a complaint under subsection (1) to be substantiated, it may set aside the decision of the deputy head to lay off the complainant and order the deputy head to take any corrective action that it considers appropriate, other than the lay-off of any employee.
Marginal note:Notice to Canadian Human Rights Commission
(5) Where a complaint raises an issue involving the interpretation or application of the Canadian Human Rights Act, the complainant shall, in accordance with the regulations of the Board, notify the Canadian Human Rights Commission of the issue.
Marginal note:Canadian Human Rights Commission
(6) Where the Canadian Human Rights Commission is notified of an issue pursuant to subsection (5), it may make submissions to the Board with respect to that issue.
Marginal note:Application of Canadian Human Rights Act
(7) In considering whether a complaint is substantiated, the Board may interpret and apply the Canadian Human Rights Act, other than its provisions relating to the right to equal pay for work of equal value.
Marginal note:Relief for discrimination
(8) Corrective action may include an order for relief in accordance with paragraph 53(2)(e) or subsection 53(3) of the Canadian Human Rights Act.
Marginal note:Notice to Accessibility Commissioner
(9) If a complaint raises an issue involving the contravention of a provision of regulations made under subsection 117(1) of the Accessible Canada Act, the complainant shall, in accordance with the regulations of the Board, notify the Accessibility Commissioner, as defined in section 2 of that Act.
Marginal note:Accessibility Commissioner
(10) If the Accessibility Commissioner is notified of an issue under subsection (9), he or she may make submissions to the Board with respect to that issue.
Marginal note:Application of Accessible Canada Act
(11) In considering whether a complaint is substantiated, the Board may interpret and apply the Accessible Canada Act.
Marginal note:Relief
(12) Corrective action may include an order for relief in accordance with section 102 of the Accessible Canada Act.
- 2003, c. 22, s. 12 "65"
- 2013, c. 40, s. 414
- 2019, c. 10, s. 194
PART 5Investigations and Complaints Relating to Appointments
Investigation of Appointments by Commission
Marginal note:External appointments
66 The Commission may investigate any external appointment process and, if it is satisfied that the appointment was not made or proposed to be made on the basis of merit, or that there was an error, an omission or improper conduct that affected the selection of the person appointed or proposed for appointment, the Commission may
(a) revoke the appointment or not make the appointment, as the case may be; and
(b) take any corrective action that it considers appropriate.
- Date modified: