Heads up anyone who words in Richmond Hill Service Canada - I was told an email was sent out after hours today, about an insect discovery in the building, on the North Side.... it's being investigated and that side is closed. People are being asked to work on the South Side while it's looked into.

I got two OP notices. First one of $6600 received back in November 2023 and second one that I just got today for $4550. The first one came from "Time and labor - compensation services with ESDC" and today's one from the Public service pay centre. When I got the first OP, The time and labor guys told me that those were the only OP that they were aware of. They never told me there was another team at Pay centre who could send me 'surprise OP letters'. These OP are from 2019 and 2021. Today after getting the second notice I called the pay centre and they told me that there are potentially more OP from 2019 and 2021. They are very diligent to send the notice just so the 6 year OP window is met and that I can't refuse to pay due to the 6 year rule.

What makes my situation peculiar is that I have no way of verifying many of these OP for leave without pay whether I really was on leave for the period or not. I went on parental leave in 2023 and when I returned from the leave they had apparently upgraded the email technology and as a result of my absence, Ihave lost access to my older email and all emails sent and received with that email is lost with no option to recover. I don’t trust the Phoenix staff and take their word for it when they say they overpaid me. Should I submit a ATIP request to get more info? Will that give me enough info for me to cross reference those details and potentially find an error? I even read it somewhere that doing this could potentially force the Phoenix people to fix any issues as they become aware of it. The other thing is about how to actually submit the request. Will it be under the privacy act or the access to information? Has any one here submitted one to any success? TIA

I retired from the PS as of mid January and received my last regular paycheque this past Wednesday - after a 16 month delay, I received retroactive pay on the last cheque covering the difference between my substantive level and the acting level up to the time of my retirement. I had been regularly hounding our HR team for over a year to process my retroactive payment.

The kicker is that almost $2200 in CPP and EI was collected out of my retroactive pay even though I max out my EI and CPP contributions halfway through each tax year. So if the retro payment was processed last tax year I would not have been dinged $2200.

Does anyone know of any options to seek an exception for this deduction or some type of possible credit that could be applied for the 2025 tax year?

My fiancé and I are trying to apply for a mortgage and we need either a T4 or a December pay stub that shows our YTD earnings. Our pay stubs don't show this - anyone know where I can find this? I don't want to wait for my T4 because there is a house we'd like to put an offer on now.

Hi, I am a term employee and I have the opportunity to apply to a posting in my unit (not yet created) to fill in for a colleague who is going on leave temporarily. I say opportunity because the job would be a promotion for me, both in terms of salary and duties to progress in my career. The position would end before the end of my current term however, and until recently, I was led to believe that it would be an acting position and that I could go back to my current role afterwards. I was told recently that "terms can't be placed in acting roles" and that if I were to get the position, my current term contract would need to cease and they would fill my position with someone else. My current role will very likely need to be filled again after the end of my term, so I was hoping to simply have my term contract extended and stay employed where I am (especially with the current uncertainty about future hiring). It seems that if I apply for the other position and get it (very likely), I will be left without a job when the person I'm filling in for comes back...

My understanding, based on other posts that I have read here, is that term employees can take on acting roles if they don't extend past the end of their term. Is that correct ? Is there any documentation on this? I would like to argue against this and push for an acting position but I would like to have some official document that says term employees can fill acting positions. I have some leverage because the timeline to hire someone externally and train them is getting tight and I might become the only option in the end. Is there any reason why my management would prefer not to put me in an acting position ? They will need to fill my current role temporarily anyway if I take on this new role, so I don't see the difference between the two options, except that an acting positin would allow me to remain employed with them after. Am I missing something ? Thanks.

Hi,

I'm returning to work after two years of long term disability. I'm doing a gradual return to work and will be working one day a week at first. Does anyone know how this works pay wise? Does SunLife top off or because I've completed the two years of allocated LTD time will I just be paid for the one day I work? Any advice appreciated!

Thank you :)

Both my partner and I are under pshcp and have been having trouble coordinating our benefits. I just submitted a claim for myself that was processed under both of our benefits (small win). However, the payment for my claim under my partner's plan went into my partner's bank account and not mine.

Is this supposed to happen or should it go into my account?

Also if anyone has tips for coordinating benefits please share, we find this all very confusing and we both have perscriptions that aren't being covered by the other person's benefits.

Hello,

First of all, I am not trying to get out of coming to the office. I actually prefer having a separation of home and work.

I have fairly severe allergies and asthma. Being around people with pets triggers sneezing, coughing and sniffling just from the dander on their clothes. Being around heavy smokers who smell of 2nd hand smoke triggers asthma attacks.

I requested that I get my own private office with an air filter so that I am not exposed and they wanted a letter from my doctor. The note states I cannot be exposed to allergens or second hand smoke and he recommended I have my own enclosed workspace.

Instead of providing it, I am being accommodated by being told to wear a mask. Yes, this will probably work but it is extremely uncomfortable to wear all day. I would rather cough and sneeze.

Is this reasonable? Is there anything I can do? I understand the employer has the right to decide what my accommodations are but they have the space. I feel like they would rather people quit so they don't have to accommodate anyone.

Hello,

Has it always been a rule to drop off your laptop/equipment before leaving for MAT leave?

My manager just told me it’s treated like a departure. Is this accurate?

I have very dry eyes and on prescription eye drops as well as all the other home treatments like warm masks and omega supplements. My optometrist recommends IPL treatment on my eyes as a next step but it costs about two thousand dollars for a set of 4 sessions. Do we have any insurance coverage through Canada Life for this? It's so sad to have a debilitating medical condition and to not be able to afford the proper treatment. Thank you so much.

I noticed that after I was deployed from a position in Ottawa to a position in Hull, that the pay centre didn’t change my province of work for the first two months last year. This resulted in my CPP contributions being lower than they should be for the year (and as a result my max pensionable earnings). It’s only around $100 in missing contributions, but I am wondering if anyone knows if this will have an exponential effect on the CPP I will receive in retirement? Just trying to see what impact this might have. If it’s significant, is there any way to fix this? Thanks in advance.

Hi everyone!

I did a quick search in the sub and didn’t find what I was looking for, so I hope it’s okay to ask.

After a conversation with a member of senior management of my department, I have been informed that their understanding of the amendments to the Official Languages Act include that while it is not required for a manager in my province to be fully bilingual (as we are not designated a bilingual province), any English Essential manager will not be allowed to have employees directly reporting to them if they are in a Bilingual position.

Just wondering if anyone has any further information on this or could provide me some insight. I’m hoping this isn’t the case, as I have some wonderful bilingual staff reporting to me but I am unfortunately unilingual (though I am pursuing part-time language training in hopes of eventually changing that!)

Thanks a million for any info shared :)

My understanding is that the contribution for an active employee contributing for a Family Level III coverage, the monthly rate is $10.34. This would mean that I would be deducted $5.17 on each pay except for 1 pay in each month where we have 3 pay day.

I actually never stopped at looking at the deductions being taken, but $5.64 is being taken on each pay ($11.28) as far back as my first Phoenix pay in 2016. Prior to that the full $10.34 was deducted only once per month.

Is there something that I'm missing as to why $11.28 is deducted instead of $10.34?

Hi, I am looking to start preparing to move forward in my career and looking into course/training options. I am Currently an AS-02 Executive Assistant, I am looking to move into a HR/Finance Admin Manager AS-05 role (long term) Can anyone suggest any learning option to get knowledge about finance, contracts, budge, Salary and Travel. I have asked in my section and no one has anything good to suggest. I will also be shadowing eventually but not for a few more years. Thanks!

I'm trying to make sense in my collective agreement as to how much paid parental leave I am eligible to take. If I went with the standard parental benefits option, what is the max amount of weeks I could do at the 93% rate? I'm reading possibly 37 weeks but there are other figures there (35 and 40 weeks mentioned) and I'm wondering which one applies. This time is not being split or shared in any way as my wife does not work and so there is no maternity leave involved on her end. Here is my collective agreement. If anyone can help me make sense of it, that would be greatly appreciated. Technical Services (TC)- Canada.ca

I'm taking the typical 15 weeks of maternity leave, which will end on a friday. Following the mat leave, I will take 63 weeks of parental leave. Does this leave technically start on the saturday? Or the monday as it's the next work day?

Thx!

Hi, would anyone know here how I can confirm if my salary is from an A base or B base funding ?

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.

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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.

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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).

I likely need the bot’s input in this one. If an EC employee were to take their personal leave without pay of up to one year, and return to work for a few months, could that person then take another lwop under 21.17b (leave without pay for other reasons not specified in the collective agreement, at the employer’s discretion), if the employer is supportive of the second lwop? On its face, the provision seems to indicate that the answer is yes, but can anyone confirm? The second lwop would be for a period of 1-2 years, to work in a related setting, which would benefit the employer long-term.

Hello all,

I wanted ask some people how they navigated invisible disability WFH accomodations.

I have always struggled with being in settings where you can hear the people around you due to being on the spectrum. Things like people clicking pens, eating snacks, talking, typing, etc really affect me mentally. I know that this may seem weak or soft to many people, but it's something I really struggle with. I often cannot focus, feel overwhelmed or anxious, and get snipping with the people around me, especially when in this circumstances for extended periods of time.

I've always circumnavigated this through listening to music and limiting my time in the spaces. It's never limited me, I learned to work around it.

My office is being renovated to be a high-security zone with no cubicles or walls dividing employees. We cannot listen to music, have any personal devices, or anything. It will be 8 hours of listening to the sounds of people around me every day. The office sounds didn't bother me too much since we were in cubicles, and if they did I'd just put on my headphones.

I'm not quite sure how anyone is expected to be able to focus with no cubicles and no music for 8 hours every day. Every teams call, chatty conversation, snack being eaten, word being typed will be broadcast in the room.

My work can be completed remotely, so I wanted some opinions on how this could be navigated with a doctor's note. I am indeterminate, but when I was hired I signed that I could work on premise - this was almost a year before the office renovations were known.

Thank you for your time.

Burner account since this is a sensitive topic. I’m wondering what everyone thinks about wearing objects with other country flags on them such as pins in the workplace. We have a colleague who wears a pin with a flag of another country every single day they come to the office to express solidarity with that country. Events in that country kind of divided Canadian society that we work for. I’m curious to see what people think about it.

Hello fine folks of Reddit.

Im looking for some help in the interpretation of the clause in the EC collective agreement. Specifically, how it works for exams spanning a 2 to 4 day period? Is this clause only for interviews? does it count towards exams? looking for some guidance or past experiences?

Thank you for your time.

Hi fellow Public Servants,

I’ve been in the PS for just over 6 months now. My family and I had scheduled a trip to the US this year, and I submitted my vacation and my manager has approved it.

However, my family is thinking about cancelling our trip because of the current tensions between Canada and the US, and we don’t even want to go anymore because of it.

I’m a bit nervous to ask my manager because I am still quite new. Just wanted to know if this is even allowed? I am in the PIPSC union.

Thank you all!

Looking to move and will likely need to apply to new jobs. I'm currently an FI03 but wondering if there's other classifications that are equivalent to that, that I could also apply for?

Every time I try to check my GCPay it always seems to be down or it doesn't recognize my credentials. Our websites across the board generally suck. Why is that? Aren't we a G7 nation? How is it that this level of quality is acceptable? Is this the bronze-medal mentality in action? Is there a broken feedback loop that just never seems to get fixed? Why do our websites look like they were designed in 1998?

https://preview.redd.it/w6zowkleomge1.png?width=1854&format=png&auto=webp&s=8da365930ab7019348fac55005d769859719231d

Hey!

I am wondering if anyone has any experience with car rental in the US using either military or federal government discounts. It isn't easy to find any info on this online, and I'm trying to avoid calling a bunch of different rental companies. Any input would be greatly appreciated!

I mean, shit. What is there to say? I've done everything right and tried my best. I know my references are great, I am bilingual enough to work in a French or English environment, I have my clearance, I know I can kick ass in an administrative or EC role.

However, there's no way I can be bridged in where I'm working due to the current political reality, and now i'm having to compete with thousands of public servants who are getting cut/hiring freezes are being put into place.

My part time contract is up soon and I feel so scared for the future. Every time I talk to someone who has a job and has heard about the position I'm in, the general tone is pity. Entry level positions seem few and far between.

What advice would you give a student in my situation?

Thank you for reading.

EDIT: I can't respond to everyone on the thread, but I am grateful to everyone who provided their perspectives, life experience, and general advice. I will maintain a good attitude and be open to new experiences & opportunities as I move forward.

Got an instant recognition award (yeah, I know they’re bullsh*t but hear me out) and was asked to choose something from the online eBoutique. Which is full of Chinese crap. WHY?!?

Here’s an idea - why not use this as an opportunity to support and showcase Canadian goods and products? Even more important given the impending trade war. Who can we contact about this? And what would you add to it?