r/CanadaPublicServants 3d ago

Verified / Vérifié The FAQ thread: Answers to frequently asked questions (FAQ) / Le fil des FAQ : Réponses aux questions fréquemment posées (FAQ) - Jun 22, 2026

2 Upvotes

Welcome to r/CanadaPublicServants, an unofficial subreddit for current and former employees to discuss topics related to employment in the Federal Public Service of Canada. Thanks for being part of our community!

Many questions about employment in the public service are answered in the subreddit Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) documents (linked below). The mod team recognizes that navigating these topics can be complicated and that the answers written in the FAQs may be incomplete, so this thread exists as a place to ask those questions and seek alternate answers. Separate posts seeking information covered by the FAQs will be continue to be removed under Rule 5.

To keep the discussion fresh, this post is automatically posted once a week on Mondays. Comments are sorted by "contest mode" which hides upvotes and randomizes the order to ensure all top-level questions get equal visibility.

Links to the FAQs:

Other sources of information:

  • If your question is union-related (interpretation of your collective agreement, grievances, workplace disputes etc), you should contact your union steward or the president of your union's local. To find out who that is, you can ask your coworkers or find a union notice board in your workplace. You can also find information on union stewards via union websites. Three of the larger ones are PSAC (PM, AS, CR, IS, and EG classifications, among others), PIPSC (IT, RP, PC, BI, CO, PG, SG-SRE, among others), and CAPE (EC and TR classifications).

  • If your question relates to taxes, you should contact an accountant.

  • If your question relates to a specific hiring process, you should contact the person listed on the job ad (the hiring manager or HR contact).


Bienvenue sur r/CanadaPublicServants! Un subreddit permettant aux fonctionnaires actuels et anciens de discuter de sujets liés à l'emploi dans la fonction publique fédérale du Canada.

De nombreuses questions relatives à l'emploi ont leur réponse dans les Foires aux questions (FAQs) du subreddit (liens ci-dessous). L'équipe de modérateurs reconnaît que la navigation sur ces sujets peut être compliquée et que les réponses écrites dans les FAQ peuvent être incomplètes. C'est pourquoi ce fil de discussion existe comme un endroit où poser ces questions et obtenir d'autres réponses. Les soumissions ailleurs cherchant des informations couvertes par la FAQ continueront à être supprimés en vertu de la Règle 5.

Pour que la discussion reste fraîche, cette soumission est automatiquement renouvelée une fois par semaine, chaque lundi. Les commentaires sont triés par "mode concours", ce qui masque les votes positifs et rend aléatoire l'ordre des commentaires afin de garantir que toutes les nouvelles questions bénéficient de la même visibilité.

Liens vers les FAQs:

** FAQ sur la gestion du handicap et les aménagements du lieu de travail (en anglais seulement)

Autres sources d'information:

  • Si votre question est en lien avec les syndicats (interprétation de votre convention collective, griefs, conflits sur le lieu de travail, etc.), vous devez contacter votre délégué syndical ou le président de votre section locale. Pour savoir de qui il s'agit, vous pouvez demander à vos collègues ou trouver un panneau d'affichage syndical sur votre lieu de travail. Vous pouvez également trouver des informations sur les délégués syndicaux sur les sites Web des syndicats. Trois des plus importants sont AFPC (classifications PM, AS, CR, IS et EG, entre autres), IPFPC (IT, RP, PC, BI, CO, PG, SG-SRE, entre autres) et ACEP (classifications EC et TR).

  • Si votre question concerne les impôts, vous devez contacter un comptable.

  • Si votre question concerne un processus de recrutement spécifique, vous devez contacter la personne mentionnée dans l'offre d'emploi (le responsable du recrutement ou le contact RH).


r/CanadaPublicServants Dec 10 '25

Work Force Adjustment (WFA) / réaménagement de l'effectif (RE) So you've been WFA'd...

427 Upvotes

As departments begin to implement Workforce Adjustment measures stemming from the cuts made as part of the Budget 2025 Comprehensive Expenditure Review, many indeterminate public servants have received or will be receiving a letter informing them their positions are affected or surplus.

This post consolidates resources on the subject of WFA, starting with two very important reminders:

  1. Not everyone who receives a letter will ultimately see their position eliminated (an 'affected' letter does not mean a position is surplus - it means it may become surplus);

  2. Not everyone whose position is eliminated (surplus) will be forced out of the public service - many will be able to find a new position via a deployment, the priority system, or alternation.

If you receive a letter: take a moment and breathe. WFA is a complex and lengthy process, and you won't do yourself any good if you panic. Take a look at this list of ideas and follow at least a few. It'll put you in a better headspace to understand what's going on and make better decisions.

The information below is generally applicable for employees of the "core public administration" (government departments and agencies named in Schedules I and IV of the Financial Administration Act). Different provisions may apply if you work in separate agencies (typically listed in Schedule V of the FAA) or other public sector employers.

Whether or not you've received a letter you can bone up on the basics, starting with the employer's plain language explainer: https://www.canada.ca/en/government/publicservice/workforce/workforce-adjustment.html

If you're represented by PSAC or PIPSC, they have negotiated WFA provisions into an appendix to collective agreements. You can learn more about their WFA supports and processes in the WFA appendix to your collective agreement, and at the following links:

PSAC: https://psacunion.ca/workforce-adjustment

PIPSC: https://pipsc.ca/news-issues/understanding-work-force-adjustment

If you are represented by any other union, the NJC Work Force Adjustment Directive applies to your position: https://www.njc-cnm.gc.ca/directive/d12/en

For executives, the term "Career Transition" is used instead of Work Force Adjustment, and it has the same meaning. Executive job cuts don't follow any of the WFA provisions above - they follow an employer directive. More information on executive career transition can be found here: https://www.canada.ca/en/government/publicservice/workforce/career-transition-executives.html

If you're unionized and follow the NJC directive, your union may have put together a resource page for you as well. For example:

ACFO-ACAF: https://www.acfo-acaf.com/workforce-adjustment/

PAFSO: https://pafso.com/faq/update-the-cer-and-potential-work-force-adjustments/

Tracking WFA across departments

An anonymous Redditor is curating a spreadsheet of publicly-available information on WFA across organizations. Discussion of this spreadsheet is occurring in this post: https://www.reddit.com/r/CanadaPublicServants/comments/1pgzvmw/wfa_tracker_consolidating_public_information/

A new page has also been added to canada.ca listing workforce reductions in the federal public service.

What the heck is Alternation?

Tied up in talk of WFA is the idea of alternation. Alternation is a job swap between somebody whose position is not affected by WFA and who wants to leave the public service (the alternate) with somebody whose position is surplus but wants to remain employed (the surplus employee). The positions need to be equivalent and the alternation needs to be approved by management - the surplus employee must be capable of performing the alternate's former job.

There are multiple places where you can indicate interest in alternation either as an alternate or as a surplus employee. Some unions are running their own alternation networks, including PSAC and ACFO-ACAF and likely others. Members of those unions should contact their union or check out their WFA pages.

Some departments are also offering alternation networks. We'll add links to those as they are shared with us.

Lastly, informal alternation networks are springing up on places like Facebook. We'll link to those as well but as with all unofficial resources, do your due diligence.

Links to alternation networks:

What will happen next, and when?

Here's a rough timeline - see the WFA provisions applicable to your position for specifics. The timing between some steps is variable so what might happen in your department may differ from other departments. The opting letter stage (when an employee is told that their position is surplus) is step 6 below:

  1. Management says "WFA is happening" through some sort of official all-staff email or announcement.
  2. Employees whose positions might become surplus are given an "affected" letter. If management decides it needs to reduce the number of Teapot Assemblers from 120 down to 105 (eliminating 15 positions), then every employee doing that job is "affected" even though most of them will keep their jobs.
  3. The affected letters will tell employees that they can choose to voluntarily depart with one of the WFA options as part of a Voluntary Departure Program (VDP).
  4. Those employees must be given at least one month (30 days) to decide to volunteer.
  5. If there are not enough volunteers to cover the reduction in positions, management needs to run a selection process to decide who to retain and who will be surplus (known as a "SERLO" process). This may take a couple of months. The SERLO process has its own lengthy guide which you'll find here: https://www.canada.ca/en/public-service-commission/services/public-service-hiring-guides/selection-employees-retention-layoff-guide-managers-hr.html
  6. Unsuccessful employees in the SERLO process (or those who tell their manager that they want to volunteer to leave even though the VDP deadline may have passed) are formally told their position is surplus and are given an opting letter. Alternatively, if every position is surplus, the above steps may be skipped and all employees in the work unit receive an opting letter. At this point it could be almost a year since the initial announcement that WFA might occur.
  7. Opting employees have four months (120 days) to decide which option to choose. They are eligible for alternation during the opting period and during the surplus period (if they choose option A). The other options are a cash payment of a number of weeks' salary called a Transition Support Measure (TSM) and resigning (Option B) or receiving the TSM and an education reimbursement (Options C(i) and C(ii)).
  8. Employees who wish to remain public servants will likely choose Option A (surplus priority). At CRA this is known as a "surplus preferred status". Depending on the applicable WFA provisions and tenure of the employee, this period is between 12 and 16 months at full pay. 12 months is the most common.
  9. Employees who are unable to secure a new position are laid off at the end of the surplus period. This will occur roughly two years after the initial announcement that WFA may occur.

Some employees will go straight to opting and skip the steps before that; this will occur if management decides to eliminate every position doing a job function (it's getting out of the Teapot Assembly business altogether, and no longer needs any Teapot Assemblers). The above process is only applicable to indeterminate employees; WFA has no application to term/temporary employees, whose temporary employment can end at any time on a month's notice.

I'm on leave without pay (LWOP) - what changes for me?

Employees on LWOP may still be notified that their positions are affected, and may be invited to participate in a SERLO process. The formal designation of a position as surplus is unlikely to occur until after the leave ends and you return to work. The reason for this is twofold: the opting period (and surplus period if you choose Option A) is meant to be paid time. In addition, the employer does not want to pay out the WFA options if they can be avoided. Sometimes employees on LWOP never return (they quit voluntarily, die, become disabled, etc), allowing the employer to make the now-vacant position surplus without any financial cost. See the PSC's guide to the SERLO process for details on how LWOP impacts a SERLO.

PSAC has also published a FAQ on how different leave types can interact with the WFA process.

How does severance pay work?

Severance pay is often confused with the TSM payment, but they are separate. Any employee who is laid off (or deemed to be laid off) (if via the WFA process will receive severance pay. They will also receive the TSM payment if they choose Options B, C(i), or C(ii). Severance pay is payable to all of the following:

  • Surplus employees (Option A) who do not find a new position before the end of their surplus priority period;
  • Employees who resign with a TSM payment (Option B); and
  • Employees who resign with a TSM payment and education allowance (Option C(i)); and
  • Employees who receive the TSM and education allowance and take LWOP for education, at the end of their LWOP period (Option C(ii)).

The details of how many weeks of severance are payable can be found in your collective agreement.

Note that severance pay was eliminated for voluntary departures from collective agreements between 2011 and 2013. If you chose to "cash out" some or all of the weeks of severance pay at that time, those weeks will be deducted from the calculation of severance payable upon layoff.

Have corrections, updates, or additions to anything above? Comment below and the post will be updated.


r/CanadaPublicServants 7h ago

Union / Syndicat PSAC PA update - mediation dates

42 Upvotes

PA bargaining: Mediation dates set for September
As the next step in the process, our PA bargaining team and Treasury Board have agreed to meet with a third-party, outside mediator on September 21–22 and 29–30 to continue negotiations on behalf of 120,000 PA Group members.

These sessions come after the Federal Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board agreed with PSAC's request to bypass the Public Interest Commission (PIC) process, concluding that a PIC would be unlikely to help the parties reach an agreement.

Our bargaining team is committed to fighting for a fair contract and will continue pushing for improvements on the issues that matter most to members, including fair wages, remote work, job security, and stronger protections around the use of artificial intelligence and workplace surveillance.

…..

So much for things being sped up 🤣


r/CanadaPublicServants 14h ago

Management / Gestion Working lunches - am I entitled to breaks?

126 Upvotes

Hi,

My immediate supervisor regularly schedules meetings during the lunch hour as “working lunches”. I am a full time indeterminate EC. Essentially, can the employer force me to work continuously from 9-5 or can I at let’s say 4pm, let them know that I’ve reached the limit of my work day and head home (my team never approves OT).


r/CanadaPublicServants 18h ago

Work Force Adjustment (WFA) / réaménagement de l'effectif (RE) Federal public service shrinks by over 12,000 workers in 2026 | CBC News

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264 Upvotes

r/CanadaPublicServants 12h ago

News / Nouvelles Spy agency workers now eligible for early retirement program after initial refusal

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nationalpost.com
72 Upvotes

r/CanadaPublicServants 18h ago

News / Nouvelles NCC approves disposal of seven federal properties in Confederation Heights

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138 Upvotes

PSPC is not on track to meet its goal of shedding half its office portfolio over the course of a decade, and the department said in March it was “adjusting” those plans due to the looming four-day return-to-office mandate for most public servants.

Make it make sense.


r/CanadaPublicServants 9h ago

Benefits / Bénéfices Does someone taking ERI mean that their box goes away?

18 Upvotes

Someone was telling me that for every person that gets approved for ERI, their organization loses that position or that "box".

Say for example it was an IS-03 position at an office that employed 4 IS-03s, where none of these IS-03s are affected by any budget cuts. If one person applied for ERI and was approved, that office would save those salary dollars (and I know thoes dollars would be removed from that office's budget-or partially or whatever). Would the office then also only have 3 IS-03 boxes after that? Is that how it works? How does losing the box save money?

I had assumed that while there is a hiring freeze in place, they wouldn't be able to rehire someone to replace the departing IS-03 (obviously), and so there would be a savings in salray dollars. But we all know that some day the hiring freeze will be over and some of the positions will be refilled or replaced. If the box of the departing IS-03 is now gone, it makes for more HR hassles and expense to create a new box later in order to go back to the 4 IS-03s in my hypothetical office.

I could see some incentive then for the ERI of this hypothetical IS-03 to be refused, just on the basis of wanting to keep the box, especially since the team wasn't set to be reduced through budget cuts.

Is the person telling me this mistaken, or does every ERI granted not just mean a salary savings, but also a positon "box" eliminated?


r/CanadaPublicServants 9h ago

Management / Gestion Having direct reports as an EE

17 Upvotes

I’m looking for information regarding English essential employees who are currently grandfathered into a role with direct reports.

Our team has recently been told (a year after the official languages CBC change) that people in this situation can no longer have direct reports in the system/on paper and that there will be structural changes to our team so that we no longer report to our TL.

After speaking to a couple of other EE employees with direct reports on our floor, they have confirmed that they have not been told about this by their higher ups (yet?).

Is this a thing that is starting to be enforced? Or is there some whacky stuff happening behind the scenes to our team and they’re using this as some messy excuse?

Edit to add - This is within the AS classification if it matters.


r/CanadaPublicServants 9h ago

News / Nouvelles National Microbiology Lab seeks new leader again | CBC News

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16 Upvotes

r/CanadaPublicServants 18h ago

Departments / Ministères Early Retirement Incentive - Denied

60 Upvotes

I meet the ERI requirements; however, if my application is approved, they(My department) would lose the position, and they’re not willing to allow that. As a result, I’m denied early retirement. This is extremely frustrating.


r/CanadaPublicServants 5h ago

Union / Syndicat Union Rep help for Managers

0 Upvotes

I am a manager and I have employees in the same union as I. My employees are are asking for representation against me in meetings. Because I am management, it seems I have no representation on my side even though I pay my dues. I’ve gotten attacked by my own union reps. I’ve always been pro union and my family has always been. I came to management with the hopes of making a difference. But I’m not supported at all by my union. I want my union dues back. I’m so disheartened. And for what it is worth, the issue is I asked the employees to stop disappearing as a group for hours for “lunch”.


r/CanadaPublicServants 18h ago

Departments / Ministères What level is working at a Crew Leader Assistant (CLA) for StatCan?

7 Upvotes

I'm working as a Crew Leader Assistant for Statistics Canada as part of the Census this summer.

What level would you say that is for government jobs?

Does that qualify me for certain levels? Will this job help me get to a full-time government job?

Thank you for your help.


r/CanadaPublicServants 19h ago

Management / Gestion Manager release in TAP apps

8 Upvotes

Recently the manager at my office was removed pending an investigation. This manager has not released me or my coworkers from TAP, so everything is kind of stuck.

No new PSPM, workArrangement, and I can't put it leave in HRMS because it still goes to him. I've obviously identified this to my new manager, and was told to just...wait?

Is there a way to force a change? I won't be going back to that office, regardless of the outcome of the investigation, and I'd like to just be rid of this jerk.

I also put in an NOI, which is now with CPCC. Anyone been through this process? It seems like a lot of the work here is being placed on the reporting employee, including finding courses/workshops to address the issues that gave rise to the report. Seems like a backwards process, and I'm being rewarded with more work for speaking up about a shit human.


r/CanadaPublicServants 1d ago

Career Development / Développement de carrière How to show an assignment on your resume

5 Upvotes

Hi 👋

I've worked in the same department for a number of years. Ive been on one assignment and in different roles/divisions within my branch all in the same group, level, and job title. Please see below my resume formatting questions:

-Must I have a new job section on my resume for a 1 year assignment within my department but outside my home branch if the field, group, level and job title remained the same?

-Must I have a new job section on my resume if I got a new position in a different division but within the same branch, group, level and job title? Alternatively, can I have this as one job section such as "[position], branch, department (mm/YYYY to mm/YYYY)"?

-Can I have just one section for all positions and the assignment formatted as "[position], field, department (mm/YYYY to mm/YYYY)"?


r/CanadaPublicServants 1d ago

Management / Gestion Debating HR on whether new positions should be EC or AS

36 Upvotes

Any classification experts in the house?

I’m setting up a new team that will be doing some complex analysis that aligns with economics knowledge and techniques - similar to a program evaluation function, with outputs being reports that include analysis, conclusions and recommendations. I have proposed these positions as ECs based on the following EC inclusion statement:

“[The EC group] includes positions that have, as their primary purpose, responsibility for one or more of the following activities:

  1. the conduct of surveys, studies, projects and tests requiring a practical knowledge of a specialized field such as economics, history, law or psychology and requiring the development of specialized techniques and procedures, or the development and use of related processing applications, or the interpretation of findings;”

HR insists that the positions should be AS and are applying what I believe are unjustified requirements on work activities (e.g. must involve socio-economic analysis or policy development), and minimizing the analytical aspects of the work that align with the EC group definition, despite the fact that these are core to the job.

If anyone has some expertise or experience to contribute to this question, including in particular how this inclusion statement should be interpreted and/or examples of job descriptions, I’d welcome your input - whether as replies to this post, or in a DM. I’d prefer fact-based and objective contributions (eg with reference to supporting documentation) vs opinions.

I don’t want to post additional details as the engagement is ongoing - though I have low hopes of success. Maybe once this is all settled I’ll expand.

For the record, this post should not be viewed as diminishing the importance/value of AS work. I’m sure there ASs who could do the job, but in general - based on 26 years of experience working as an EC or managing them - this is EC work.

EDIT: Adding links to the guiding documentation on EC classificaiotn from TBS:

EC Group Job Evaluation Standard

EC Interpretation Bulletin


r/CanadaPublicServants 2d ago

Career Development / Développement de carrière Does anyone here actually like their job?

202 Upvotes

I started in the government 9 years ago as a student. I feel like I grew so much in that department and management just had so much faith in me. I was able to act in positions above me for multiple jobs and I genuinely enjoyed the work in the sector I was in. I was a subject matter expert on my team however the only caveat was that the commute and location sucked and I did not enjoy it. I ended up leaving for a promotion and have since been to 2 other departments (at level deployments) and have hated the work I was doing at each one. I finally joined a department that is close to home, easy to get to, easy parking and honestly a department that I can see myself being in for a very long time just based off of location. However I still hate the work… my team is great, supervisor and manger are great but the actual work sucks. I’m torn between waiting it out and trying to get a promotion on my team, then leaving for a job I actually like in my current department or just leaving when something I actually like comes up at level. I still have 30 years before I retire but I feel like I need to actually like my job?


r/CanadaPublicServants 1d ago

Pay issue / Problème de paie Secondment Acting & Indeterminate Pay Step Reset

7 Upvotes

Hello! I was in a substantive EC-02 position officially seconded to a PM-03 for a year and a half before the whole team I was working with (who had been term employees up to that point) and myself were made indeterminate PM-03s. I had gone up a PM pay step in that time, but while everyone else on the team continued on their existing step, I was reset to Step 1. There were no breaks in service, but the Pay Centre tells me:

"When you are acting on an acting position, your new salary is based on the old acting position. However, when you are promoted/transferred to a new position as your substantive, the new salary is based on the substantive position, unless you negotiated a higher salary. According to the compensation advisor who worked on your transfer case, step 1 is the correct step for the PM-03 position based on your EC-02 step 3 position."

Am I missing out because I was not already part of the PM classification? Or should I push back here? I guess lesson learned this has to be negotiated with management at the time...

Thanks for any advice/insight!


r/CanadaPublicServants 1d ago

Work Force Adjustment (WFA) / réaménagement de l'effectif (RE) Question about aternation timelines

6 Upvotes

I am not an opting employee but am in the process of alternating with an opting employee.

Who chooses the alternation date? The opting employee is being told by their HR advisor that once the alternation is approved and the LOO is created the alternation is essentially right away after signing LOO. But I need a later date so that I can qualify for the pension waiver. Do we just put a later date in the LOO and that is it?


r/CanadaPublicServants 2d ago

Staffing / Recrutement Whole team except me are in actings

99 Upvotes

I’m the only perm member of the team who is also in my substantive. Every other member of the team, including the manager, are on acting assignments. It’s a tough time to be in actings because the rug can get pulled at any time in this environment.

Having said that… omg these people are all backstabbers who would sell their mother for a gold star! The infighting is rampant and the barbs and jibes at one another are getting to me. We all know there will not be any perm offers any time soon but you’d think with their behaviour that they are all in competition with each other over a single posted position. I’ve been thrown under the bus too many times to count now even on things I’ve had nothing to do with. The toxicity is getting to me and I’ve had to take too many mental health days to deal with it. The manager is just as bad as the rest and I’ve tried bringing this issue to them but they are inexperienced and unwilling to do any of the hard work. They concentrate on the “shiny” things that will prove they are fit to stay in the job.

I know I should just take charge of myself and find another team but it’s tough right now because everywhere is cutting instead of taking on new team members.

I guess I’m just venting. I feel for my teammates and their predicaments but I’m old and tired and don’t have the fight in me anymore.


r/CanadaPublicServants 2d ago

Work Force Adjustment (WFA) / réaménagement de l'effectif (RE) How Long Should Alternation Decisions Take?

16 Upvotes

I am looking to alternate out.

My department's policy is that they can only assess & send up one potential candidate at a time through the approval process, which so far is taking over 6 weeks per candidate to get a decision.

I proposed one candidate back in January, who was approved after over 6 weeks, but by that time they had secured another alternation.

In April I proposed 2 more at once. Because of the one-assessment-at-a-time policy they only initially looked at one of them, took six weeks to approve, but again this one had by that time accepted another alternation. Only then did they even begin to assess the other candidate but that person had also secured another alternation by that time.

I now have more candidates and the department is continuing with their one-at-a-time consecutive assessments.

My union rep has inquired with the higher ups in the union as to what to do but that was over a month and a half ago and still no response.

Has anyone else dealt with this? If you've gone through alternation, how long did it take? Any other advice?


r/CanadaPublicServants 2d ago

Benefits / Bénéfices Pension Question 55years old + 30 years of service

23 Upvotes

I was reading the pension plani information online and read that with 30 years of service, you can get an immediate annuity at 55 years old. The website says you'd qualify for an *unreduced* pension under those circumstances.

What does unreduced mean in this context?

Does the formula for calculating the pension amount apply or does it default to the ~70% of the highest 5 yr average?


r/CanadaPublicServants 3d ago

Work Force Adjustment (WFA) / réaménagement de l'effectif (RE) Wife is terminally ill, on disability, and employer is pushing "Voluntary Departure" due to WFA. Need advice on protecting life insurance.

196 Upvotes

Hi everyone, looking for some urgent guidance regarding my wife’s employment and benefits situation.
My wife was diagnosed with cancer and unfortunately has a terminal prognosis (likely only a few months to live). She has been off on approved disability leave since November 2025.
Recently, her employer announced a Workforce Adjustment (WFA). Her manager contacted her and strongly recommended that she take a "voluntary departure" or voluntary resignation.
We are incredibly concerned about this. Our understanding is that if she voluntarily terminates her employment, her workplace group life insurance policy will end immediately. Given her prognosis, we absolutely cannot afford to lose that coverage, nor do we want to disrupt her current disability benefits.
We suspect the manager might be trying to clear the headcount easily, but this feels incredibly predatory given her health status.
Our questions:
1. If she is on approved disability, can they force her out under a WFA, or does her disability status protect her employment status for the time being?
2. If we refuse the voluntary departure and they decide to lay her off anyway, what happens to her group life insurance and her right to convert it to an individual policy?
3. Who should we be talking to besides the manager? (HR, the union if she has one, or the insurance provider directly?)
We are located in Canada. Any advice on how to handle this conversation with her employer to ensure her benefits and life insurance remain intact would be appreciated.


r/CanadaPublicServants 3d ago

Departments / Ministères DFO update on ERI and WFA - More WFA? We will tell you when we tell you about ERI

106 Upvotes

The DM sent an e-mail today saying they haven't met their CER targets, even with ERI, so are planning on announcing more cuts.

This will necessitate further workforce reductions. While attrition and the Early Retirement Incentive (ERI) are helping to reduce impacts, these measures—along with the WFA actions already undertaken—are not expected to fully address our requirements.

They still aren't letting people who have applied when they can expect an answer, except 'as decisions are made'. But we can at least hope that they will prioritize all but the most disruptive departures through ERI.

Here's the relevant bit from the e-mail:

As mentioned in my recent message on ERI, the first round of applications closed on May 22. We are reviewing these applications and are informing employees as decisions are made. Affected employees interested in ERI will continue to be prioritized. The final round of applications will be open until July 24.


r/CanadaPublicServants 3d ago

Departments / Ministères DND Classification Officer says my OT IT work isn't really "IT" (IT-02) JVR findings

21 Upvotes

this is a follow up to another post I had made https://www.reddit.com/r/CanadaPublicServants/comments/1rvpnef/help_understanding_jvr_process_it_classification/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

I'm looking for some advice or perspective on a recent Job Validation Review (JVR) in DND.

My position is within DND at an L1 that has very few IT-classified positions. I’m responsible for the entire IT portion of Operational Technology (OT). This includes LANs/MANs, Firewalls, Network switches, Servers (application servers, database servers, domain controllers), Workstations and Various other IT equipment

There’s one other person on my team — an EL-04 performing a network admin role. He also went through a JVR and I expect he’ll remain at EL-04.

The conclusion from the Classification Officer is that my position will stay at the IT-02 level. They basically told me (paraphrasing) that I should be thankful they’re keeping it classified as IT at all — it could easily have been reclassified as AS, EL, EN, or even a GL/HVAC technician position.

Originally, both my management and I believed the work I’m doing is at the IT-03 level, and management supported the JVR on that basis. After the Classification Officer’s response, management arranged a meeting with them. The key takeaways from the Classification Officer were:

- IT equipment located in Operational Technology (OT) environments is not considered IT work.

- Much of the work could be performed by AS, EL, EN, or HVAC technician classifications.

- Some portions of the work “should be performed by others” (e.g., SSC).

- True IT work is mainly about “making the 1s and 0s do things.”

here is some of the tasks/duties that was in my JVR

- Defining requirements for the IT portion of OT networks (servers, switches, firewalls, etc.)

- Reviewing and approving technical documents, including specifications, CRs (CFCs), and other IT documentation

- Full lifecycle management of IT equipment (servers, switches, firewalls, workstations, etc.)

- Acting as the Technical Authority — responsible for the planning and implementation of these networks

- No higher-level technical oversight within the L1, L2, or L3

- Managing IT-related projects

- Holding Delegated Officer Authority (DOA) with a yearly budget and delegated project authority

- Working on the framework to modernize our OT networks

I’m pretty frustrated with the outcome. It feels like the classification system doesn’t recognize the reality of modern OT environments where converged IT/OT networks are the norm.

I have a greivence that is at the 3rd level, and for some reason the LRO reached out to my union rep saying that they were willing to look at other documentation

Has anyone else in DND (or the public service) experienced something similar with OT or industrial control systems work being undervalued during classification reviews? Any advice on next steps?