Annexe IV - Employee Transfer Agreement In Connection With Canada-Québec Labour Market Agreement

Policy & Design » LMDA Coordination and Analysis » Québec

1. Purpose

The Employee Transfer Agreement (ETA) describes in detail the offer made by Québec to the employees currently in the employ of Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC) who are affected by the Canada-Québec Labour Market Agreement in Principle.

2. DEFINITIONS

A transferred employee is an indeterminate employee of Canada who receives and accepts an offer of employment from Québec under the terms of this ETA.

The transfer date is the date on which an employee is transferred to Québec, as specified in the letter of offer.

A permanent employee is an employee who has completed his or her probationary period and has regular status with employment security, as set out in Québec's Civil Service Act.

Federal annual income is composed of the rate of pay and equal pay adjustments, where appropriate, which the transferred employee receives on his or her departure from HRDC in accordance with his or her substantive position or salary protection. Any other premium is excluded.

Québec annual pay means the annual rate of pay based on the appropriate salary scale, to which is added, where required, a lump sum amount, as provided for in clause 4.1 of this Agreement.

3. Offer of employment

Canada has recognized (Annex A) that the provisions of the Agreement in Principle allow Québec to present each of the affected employees with a reasonable job offer within the meaning of Part VII of the federal Work Force Adjustment Directive.

The Agreement in Principle covers a total of 1 084 FTEs. On the day that the Agreement is signed, Canada shall provide Québec with a list on which the parties have agreed giving the number of employees identified for transfer who will receive an offer of employment from Québec, and the name, title, group and level and place of work of each of these employees. In so far as they so agree, the parties may, in special circumstances and up to the effective transfer date, modify the list of employees identified for transfer.

Once the Implementation Agreement has been signed, Québec shall present in writing a personalized offer of employment (Annex B) to each employee identified for transfer, in accordance with the terms and conditions set out herein. The offer of employment shall take into account, among other things, the following:

since each transferred employee will have completed his or her probationary period at HRDC at the time of transfer, his or her status as a permanent employee at the Ministère de l'Emploi et de la Solidarité shall be confirmed, and, consequently, he or she shall obtain the employment security for which provision is made in the Québec Civil Service ;

the transferred employee shall be offered employment at a location less than 40 km from his or her current place of work; he or she shall be ensured stability in this regard for a minimum of one year beginning on the date of transfer ;

the employee shall have 60 days to accept or refuse Québec's offer. Such offer shall be deemed to have been made seven days following the date on which it is sent.

Canada shall be provided with a copy of these offers on the day on which they are sent.

4. Salary and other conditions of employment

The conditions of employment of transferred employees shall be those for which provision is made in the applicable collective agreements or directives, subject to specific directions contained in this Agreement.

For the purposes of application of this section, the data communicated by Canada, Human Resources Branch of HRDC, shall be the only data recognized by Québec.

4.1 Salary

The transferred employee shall occupy a position at an employment grade that corresponds to the usual main duties he or she performed at HRDC (Annex C). He or she shall be paid at a salary step equal to or immediately above his or her federal annual income, transposed on the basis of a 35-hour week. If applicable, the difference between the federal annual income before transfer and the Québec annual rate of pay after transfer shall be paid on a pro rata basis in each pay period, in the form of a lump sum, and this lump sum amount shall be taken into account in calculating the employee's and employer's contributions to the pension fund.

The Québec annual pay of the transferred employee shall reflect the adjustments in federal annual income due to pay equity or the concluding of new collective agreements, in so far as these are signed and in force before the transfer date.

4.2 Senority

The seniority of each transferred employee is defined as the combined total of all his or her continuous and discontinuous periods of employment in Canada; it shall be recognized and credited as continuous service for purposes of application of the measures provided for in the applicable conditions of employment, including those with respect to reserve lists.

4.3 Vacation (annual leave)

Québec shall recognize, for each transferred employee, the annual leave credits (in days of annual leave) earned as of the transfer date. However, the employee may carry over only once, from one fiscal year to another, the credits transferred from HRDC.

Acquired rights to 25 days of annual leave for transferred employees with between 19 and 24 years of service on the date of transfer shall be recognized by Québec.

4.4 Sick leave

Québec shall recognize, for each transferred employee, the sick leave credits (in days of sick leave) earned as of the transfer date.

These transferred sick leave credits shall serve only for purposes of wage-loss insurance, in accordance with the applicable conditions of employment, for use on a priority basis in the case of absence because of illness, and in no case shall Québec be expected to convert them into cash.

4.5 Work schedules

Each identified employee shall receive an offer of a regular full-time job, for which the normal hours of work shall be those provided for in the applicable conditions of employment.

With respect to part-time employees identified for transfer, Québec shall, in so far as possible, ensure that the incumbents of these positions may continue to work on that same basis.

4.6 Other credits

No leave credits accumulated in connection with employment in the Public Service of Canada other than sick leave or annual leave credits may be transferred to Québec.

5.0 Union

Transferred employees who are not excluded from bargaining and who are unionized in the Québec Civil Service shall be governed by the collective agreement applying to the personnel covered by the appropriate bargaining unit (professionals or civil servants), under section 137 of the Act respecting the Ministère de l'Emploi et de la Solidarité and establishing the Commission des partenaires du marché du travail.

Transferred employees who are not excluded from bargaining but are not unionized shall be governed by the directive applying to non-unionized employees.

Transferred employees who are excluded shall be governed by the directives applying to the appropriate personnel category, in particular senior managers, middle managers or human resource management advisers.

6.0 Special situations

6.1 Parenral rights

A transferred employee on maternity leave on the transfer date shall receive the number of weeks of benefits and allowances provided for in the applicable conditions of employment and, subsequently, may obtain leave without pay as an extension of the maternity leave under these same conditions of employment.

A transferred employee who, on the date of transfer, is on leave without pay for the care and nurturing of preschool-age children may complete that leave with Québec, on the basis of the leave period authorized by Canada.

6.2 Leave without pay (self-funded leave)

Québec shall respect the commitments made by Canada with regard to employees absent on self-funded leave on the transfer date. These employees shall be transferred on the planned transfer date and, on their return to work, they must pay the employee's share for the applicable pension plan for the leave period.

Commitments made by HRDC with respect to employees who, on the transfer date, are in the process of deferring part of their salary with a view to taking self-funded leave on a date subsequent to the transfer shall also be respected, on the understanding that all of the sums placed in trust shall be accessible to Québec.

6.3 Absence due to disability (illness, disability and occupational injury

An employee who has accepted Québec's offer of employment and who is absent owing to disability on the transfer date shall be integrated on that date, insofar as the prognosis recorded on a medical certificate indicates a specific date of return to work.

6.4 Other authorized absences

Québec shall respect the commitments made by Canada in the case of employees whose absence with or without pay it has authorized. These employees shall be transferred on the planned transfer date and shall be subject to the applicable conditions of employment.

Any extension or renewal shall be subject to the applicable conditions of employment.

7.0 Health wage-LOSS and life insurance PLANS

Québec shall register the transferred employees, their eligible spouses and their dependents in the health insurance plan corresponding to their respective employment category.

The employees shall register themselves in the following additional plans, which may be mandatory or optional, depending on the applicable conditions of employment:

extended health insurance ;

life insurance ;

long-term wage-loss insurance.

No proof of insurability shall be required for protection equivalent to that held prior to transfer, and the waiting periods shall not apply.

The short-term disability plan provided for in the conditions of employment for employees in the Québec Civil Service shall apply to the transferred employees.

8.0 Dental care plan

During the period in which the dental care plan is in force, Québec shall provide Canada with the information concerning departures of employees owing to retirement, death, leave without pay for more than three months, or, at the employee's request, transfer outside the Ministère de l'Emploi et de la Solidarité.

9.0 Pension plan

Employees transferred to Québec under this Agreement shall be subject to the RREGOP or the RRPE beginning from the transfer date. The transferred employees shall, within one year of the transfer date, choose one of the following options with respect to the years of pensionable service in the federal government to their credit under the Public Service Superannuation Act (PSSA):

transferring their federal pensionable service credits to the government and public employees retirement plan (RREGOP) or the management staff retirement plan (RRPE). This option shall be exercised under the current transfer agreement, signed on December 12, 1984, between Québec's Commission administrative des régimes de retraite et d'assurances and the Government of Canada, and the amendments thereto; or

not transferring the credits for pensionable service in the employ of the Government of Canada.

If an employee chooses not to transfer credits for service in the employ of the federal government, the service credited under the PSSA shall count for purposes of eligibility for a retirement pension or other benefit payable under the RREGOP or the RRPE; conversely, service credited under the RREGOP or the RRPE shall be taken into account for purposes of eligibility for a pension or benefit payable under the PSSA.

Québec shall take the necessary measures to ensure that service in the employ of the federal government is recognized upon retirement and that the combined total of these years and those credited under the RREGOP or the RRPE does not exceed 35 years of service at the time of retirement, or any other criterion in force at that time.

10.0 Co-operation

Québec agrees to co-operate with Canada to enable it to communicate with the transferred employees, with a view to, among other things, paying them any form of remuneration to which they may be entitled for any period preceding their transfer to Québec.

Canada agrees that, at Québec’s request, it shall provide the transferred employees’ records of employment, where those records are required - for example, for employment insurance purposes.

ANNEXE A

Letter of Recognition by Canada of Reasonableness of Québec's Offer of Employment under Agreement in Principle

ANNEXE B

PERSONALIZED OFFER OF EMPLOYMENT MODEL

Québec City, [month and day], 1997

[Name and work address]

Dear Mr. [last name]/Ms. [last name]:

In April 1997, an Agreement in Principle regarding the labour market was reached between Canada and Québec.

Under this Agreement, the Government of Québec agreed to present all federal employees affected by the transfer with a reasonable job offer, as defined in the federal Work Force Adjustment Directive.

Your name appears on the list of employees identified for this transfer. Consequently, the purpose of this letter is to offer you a job [status, corps and job grade] in [administrative unit] in [town or city] beginning [date]. We will contact you in writing one month prior to the date of the move to the Québec premises. Your yearly rate of pay, calculated on the basis of 35 hours per week, will be [$ ], corresponding to Level X of the job grade attributed to you. [However, your current yearly income of [$ ] will be maintained in full through payment of a lump sum calculated annually and distributed over each pay period].

Attached hereto is a summary of functions and responsibilities for this job grade, and the corresponding pay scale.

The conditions relating to this transfer offer are defined in the Employee Transfer Agreement reached between the two governments (copy appended).

You have 60 days in which to accept or refuse this offer. This 60 day period begins on the seventh day following the date of this letter.

If you accept this offer, please complete the following forms:

response to offer of employment, "acceptance of offer" section;

offer of service;

forms pertaining to the supplementary health, wage-loss and life insurance plans;

request for automatic transfer of pay; and

employment equity form;

and forward them, by registered mail, to the Human Resources Directorate, at the following address, no later than [67th day following date of letter]:

[Name of contact person]

Ministère de l'Emploi et de la Solidarité

Human Resources Directorate

425 St-Amable St, 4th Floor

Québec City, Québec

G1R 4Z1

If you exercise your right of refusal, we ask that you inform the Human Resources Directorate of the Ministère de l’Emploi et de la Solidarité of this by registered mail, using the attached "Response to Offer of Employment" form.

If you accept this offer of employment, we assure you that we will make every effort to ensure that your integration into the new Ministère de l'Emploi et de la Solidarité takes place as smoothly as possible.

Yours truly,

FRANÇOIS GIROUX

Human Resources Director

encl.

cc: Human Resources Development Canada

CANADA-QUÉBEC EMPLOYEE TRANSFER AGREEMENT RESPONSE TO OFFER OF EMPLOYMENT FORM

Acceptance of Offer

I, the undersigned, accept the Government of Québec's offer of employment, subject to the conditions described in the letter of offer sent to me and in the Canada-Québec Employee Transfer Agreement.

I therefore authorize Human Resources Development Canada to disclose the information needed for my integration into the Québec Civil Service, that is:

copy of birth certificate or equivalent;

annual salary;

work schedule;

seniority acquired in federal Public Service;

annual and sick leave credit balances;

health, life and disability insurance protection;

requests for changes, pending decision by insurance company;

personal tax credits, personal tax relief, and non-indexable tax credits (contributions to Fonds de solidarité des travailleurs du Québec RRSP);

contributions deducted for Québec Pension Plan on transfer date;

employment insurance premiums deducted on transfer date;

miscellaneous deductions (Québec and Canada Savings Bonds, United Way, savings deductions).

Name of Employee

Employee's Signature

Date

Refusal of Offer

I, the undersigned, refuse the Government of Québec's offer of employment, as formulated in the letter of offer sent to me and in the Canada-Québec Employee Transfer Agreement.