3.5 Appendix I – Terms and Conditions
for the Disposition of Common Administrative Records in support of the Human Resources
Management Function of the Government of Canada
A. Key Definitions
Common Administrative Records – Records created, collected, or
received by a federal government institution to support and document broad internal
administrative functions and activities common to or shared by all federal government
institutions (for example, finance and the management of human resources).
Operational Records – Records created, collected, or received by
a federal government institution to support and document business functions, programmes,
processes, transactions, services, and all other activities uniquely or specifically
assigned to that particular institution by legislation, regulation, or policy.
Human Resources Management Function (of the Government of Canada) –
Encompasses the functions, processes, activities, and transactions of
administrative business concerning the management of human resources commonly conducted in
and across all federal government institutions to facilitate the application of
operational policies and the delivery of programmes and services. The main legislation
underpinning the Human Resources Management Function includes the Financial
Administration Act, the Public Service Employment Act, the Public
Service Reform Act, and the Public Service Staff Relations Act. For the
purposes of identifying and explaining records disposition requirements, the Human
Resources Management Function has been divided into the following eleven sub-functions:
staffing; training and development; performance assessment; occupational safety and
health; staff relations; compensation and benefits; human resources planning and
utilization; classification; official languages; employment equity; and special
programmes. (The Functional Profile provides a more complete
description of these sub-functions).
Office of Primary Interest – The federal government institution
— department, agency, board, office, or commission — to which the authority,
responsibility, and accountability to perform a particular function on behalf of the
Government of Canada has been specifically assigned by legislation, regulation, policy, or
mandate.
Personnel or employee file – The official institutional file
— containing documentation on service of an individual employee of the Crown —
made or received by the institution in which that person is employed. According to Federal
Employee Information Banks, an individual employee’s personnel file is often divided
into parts.
B. Scope of the Authority
- Authority No. 98/005 applies to all common administrative records in support of the
Human Resources Management Function of the Government of Canada (that is, records
documenting common administrative business functions, sub-functions, programmes, and
activities), regardless of how the records are organized or internally controlled within
each institution; it entirely supersedes Schedule 5 (Personnel) of the GRDS (PAC 86/001).
- Those subjects and records descriptions found in Schedule 5 of the GRDS (PAC 86/001) are
all covered in this new Authority for the Human Resources Management Function. In the new
Authority, the Human Resources Management (HRM) Function has been divided further into the
following eleven sub-functions: staffing; training and development; performance
assessment; occupational safety and health; staff relations; compensation and benefits;
human resources planning and utilization; classification; official languages; employment
equity; and special programmes.
- Institutions which have specific operational mandates as Offices of Primary Interest for
aspects of the HRM Function shall not apply Authority No. 98/005 to their operational
records concerning those aspects of the HRM Function. If, for any reason, an
institution subject to the Library and Archives of Canada Act creates, collects, or
receives HRM records that are not common or administrative, the institution must seek a
separate authority for operational records to dispose of such records. All government
functions, subjects, record types, and records excluded from the scope of this Authority
(that is No. 98/005) or any other Multi-Institutional Disposition Authority must be
covered by operational authorities granted to individual federal institutions as arranged
through the Multi-Year Disposition Plan process. For example, Treasury Board and the
Public Service Commission, as two Offices of Primary Interest for the Human Resources
Management Function, should use this Authority only as it applies to their common
administrative records concerning that Function, not their operational records.
- Authority No. 98/005 applies to all institutions subject to the Library and Archives of Canada Act, whether or not their Human Resources Management Function
activities follow Treasury Board or other central agency policies and guidelines. For
example, some institutions, like Crown corporations, may not be required to follow central
agency policies concerning the Human Resources Management Function, yet these institutions
are subject to the Act.
- Authority No. 98/005 does not supersede other Authorities requiring the
preservation of archival records. It should be applied after the Transitory
Records Authority, any operational records disposition authority (also referred to as an
Institution-Specific Disposition Authority or ISDA), and any Multi-Institutional
Disposition Authority (MIDA) for generic groups of records (such as posters, records from
a minister’s or deputy head’s office, and records generated by imaging systems).
Some operational records Authorities (that is, institution-specific) also include the
disposition of some common administrative records. The Terms and Conditions for the
application of these Institution-Specific Disposition Authorities remain in effect.
- Authority No. 98/005 does not apply to records series or groupings or collections
which mix common administrative and operational records.
- It is incumbent upon each government institution to understand and apply legislation,
including its own specific extant legislation, concerning the retention and disclosure of
information. Each government institution is required to determine the appropriate
retention periods for its records (for instance, those human resources records covered by
Authority No. 98/005) by taking into account all relevant legislation, including the Privacy
Act.
- When an employee is transferred from one institution to another, the official
institutional personnel records of that employee shall be forwarded to the receiving
institution; when an employee leaves the government, the official personnel records of
that employee shall be forwarded to Library and Archives Canada Manitoba Region Federal Records Centre, in
Winnipeg, one year from the date of retirement or separation. Personnel files of deceased
personnel shall be sent to the Federal Records Centre once all legal aspects have been
completed.
- Operational authorities — also called Institution-Specific Disposition Authorities
or ISDAs — may exist which preserve specific categories of the personnel file
containing archival value because of the special mandates of particular institutions. Such
operational authorities are the means by which to dispose of a particular exception to the
generic personnel file.
C. Authorization to Destroy
All records created, collected, or maintained in any medium by federal institutions in
support of the Human Resources Management Function of the Government of Canada may be
destroyed provided that:
- the records are not operational in nature;
- the records are not of a mixed operational and administrative character;
- the records do not support an administrative function in an Office of Primary Interest;
- the records are not otherwise excluded from the application of this Authority by virtue
of the definitions and scope statement contained in this Appendix;
- the records are not anterior to 1946; and
- the retention periods of the records — established by each institution according to
its legal and operational requirements — have expired.
A strict application of the above definitions, exclusions, and the prioritized use of
the various Records Disposition Authorities will ensure that there are no records of
archival value amongst the remaining common administrative records in support of the Human
Resources Management Function of the Government of Canada. Except for the personnel or
employee file, all such records may therefore be destroyed upon the expiry of their
retention periods established for them within each federal institution.
The personnel or employee file shall be retained by the employing
institution for the duration of employment plus one (1) year; the institution shall then
transfer it to Library and Archives Canada Manitoba Region Federal Records Centre
[Contact the Personnel Records Unit at (204) 983-4495 for complete instructions]. Library and Archives Canada will destroy the civilian personnel file when the individual
turns eighty (80) years of age or after the individual’s death, assuming there is no
further action pending.
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