UNION NEWS - MAY 2022
As you may be aware, the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) has issued some communiqués of late announcing a recent decision of the Federal Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board (the Board) partially allowing a Policy Grievance filed by the PSAC against Treasury Board’s and certain Agencies’ decisions to discontinue or revise its conditions concerning the use of time code 699 for employees adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and who were unable to report for work due to circumstances beyond their control. A similar time code, allowing for Leave With Pay was also made available by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) for its employees who were unable to report to work for reasons associated with the pandemic and for reasons beyond their control.
It should be noted that the Policy Grievance filed by the PSAC did not include the CRA as a respondent and therefore, while the decision may likely serve as a precedent for CRA to be guided by, it is not technically bound by the decision.
In the early stages of the pandemic, employees of the core public administration and in certain agencies were authorized to use time code 699 when they were unable to report for work for COVID related reasons, but subsequently Treasury Board revised its position requiring that employees must exhaust other leave provisions before being granted leave with pay under code 699. Immediately upon learning of this, our office initiated discussions with senior officials of the CRA in an effort to dissuade them from following this direction. Resultantly, the CRA did not adopt this policy and instead, adopted the position that time code 699 would only be granted “on a case-by case basis, and only after remote or alternate work, or flexible work hours have been considered, and generally, only after other relevant paid leave has first been used by the employee”.
The CRA went on to outline to its managers certain conditions where time code 699 may continue to apply. These circumstances included cases where an employee:
- has work or technology limitations;
- cannot work remotely and has been diagnosed with COVID-19, is experiencing symptoms and/or is required to self-isolate;
- has caregiving responsibilities as a result of such things as school or daycare closures, or COVID -19 illness or isolation requirements, or
- cannot work remotely and is at high risk or who has someone in their care who is at high risk of severe illness from COVID-19.
Accordingly, it is apparent that the CRA deviated somewhat from the direction taken by Treasury Board.
In partially allowing the grievance, the Board found that “the requirement to consider other leaves before considering an employee’s request for 699 leave violates the collective agreement and it is an unreasonable withholding of 699 leave”.
Upon receipt of the Board decision, our office immediately contacted the CRA’s Corporate Labour Relations to discuss options to ensure that the spirit and intent of this decision was fairly applied to UTE members employed by the CRA. The Agency has agreed to review cases, in consultation with our office, where grievances were filed when an employee may have been required to exhaust other types of leave before being granted 699 leave.
UTE recognizes that some members may have been provided this direction by local management and opted not to grieve. In these circumstances, affected members should immediately contact their local union representative to discuss the matter. The Regional Vice-President responsible for the Region and the National Office of UTE will also be available to assist and provide guidance and direction, as necessary.
Rest assured that the UTE will make every effort to protect members’ collective agreement rights with respect to leave entitlements as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Shane O’Brien
Senior Labour Relations Officer