The Public Service Official Languages Exclusion Approval Order

In the June issue of INFO-PSC, we told you that the Public Service Official Languages Exclusion Approval Order (PSOLEAO) was changing. Well, the new PSOLEAO has since been approved and came into force on December 31, along with the new Public Service Employment Act (PSEA).

The PSOLEAO is the statutory instrument that allows, in some circumstances, appointment of unilingual Canadians to bilingual positions in the federal public service. The new Order is complemented by the Public Service Official Languages Appointment Regulations (PSOLAR), which set out how persons excluded under the PSOLEAO are dealt with.

The PSOLEAO and the PSOLAR have been designed to provide an appropriate balance. On the one hand, they ensure that public servants meet the official language proficiency requirements of their positions; on the other, they allow unilingual Canadians fair access to bilingual positions in the federal public service.

Broadly speaking, the provisions of the new Order are different in two ways. First, the new Order and Regulations limit distinctions between official language proficiency and other qualifications in the operation of merit. Second, there are now three circumstances, instead of seven, in which a person may be excluded from meeting the official language proficiency requirements of a bilingual position. These circumstances are exclusion as a result of an agreement to become bilingual, exclusion for medical reasons, and exclusion for persons who are eligible for an immediate annuity and submit their resignation. With these changes, the Order and Regulations are easier to interpret than before.

Canada is committed to a public service that embodies linguistic duality and continues to gain from a public service whose members are able to serve the public in the official language of their choice. The provisions of the new PSOLEAO and the PSOLAR reflect these values and, by so doing, are in keeping with the spirit and intent of the new PSEA.