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1 |
PURPOSE |
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1.1 |
The purpose of this directive is to provide
compensation advisors with information on the implementation of the pay
equity agreement for the TR Group. |
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1.2 |
In this text, use of the masculine
is generic and applies to both men and women.
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2 |
BACKGROUND |
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2.1 |
Representatives of the Canadian Association
of Professional Employees (CAPE) and the Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS)
reached an agreement on December 18, 2003, to settle the complaint
filed under sections 10 and 11 of the Canadian Human Rights Act concerning
the TR Group. This agreement was first ratified by employees currently
in the TR Group who are members of CAPE, then approved by the Canadian
Human Rights Commission (CHRC) on February 10, 2004, and finally
approved by all parties on February 20, 2004. It is required
that the pay equity agreement be implemented within 120 calendar days from
the date of authority (February 20, 2004). Consequently, eligible
employees in the TR Group should receive their pay equity adjustments by
June 19, 2004.
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The criteria for this pay equity agreement
are similar to the Personnel Administration (PE) Group pay equity agreement.
The only differences between the two agreements are the retroactive period,
the payment amount, and the eligibility in acting situations. As a result,
modifications will be required to the existing pay equity programs to accurately
process the retroactive payments for employees in the TR Group.
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3 |
POLICY |
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3.1 |
Eligibility |
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3.1.1 |
This settlement applies to all current and
former employees who were or are employed by a department or agency listed
in Schedule 1, Part 1 of the Public Service Staff Relations Act (PSSRA),
and appointed to a TR position at any time during the period commencing
on April 1, 1990. All current and former employees, represented
and excluded, are subject to the agreement. This comprises indeterminate,
part-time (including those working less than one third of the hours of
full-time employees), casual, term and seasonal employees. Individuals
working under contract or employed through an agency or separate employer
are excluded from this agreement. Students are not entitled to the pay
equity payments even though they are performing the work of the TR Group. |
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3.1.2 |
The retroactive adjustment will be calculated
on the actual periods of service in the TR Group, Bargaining Unit Designator
(BUD) Code 31300. This adjustment will be reduced by periods of leave without
pay (LWOP), with the exception of maternity leave where the employee received
maternity benefits. Employees on maternity leave will receive the full
pay equity entitlement for the period that they received maternity allowance
payments. The maximum period payable for a maternity allowance is 17 weeks. |
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3.1.3 |
Employees whose substantive positions are in
the TR Group but were acting outside the TR Group during any or all of
the retroactive period will be entitled to the lump sum payment based on
their substantive positions. Employees whose substantive positions
are outside the TR Group, but were acting TR's during the retroactive period,
will be eligible for the retroactive lump sum payment prorated on a daily
basis for the period of acting service. |
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3.1.4 |
The pay equity adjustment amounts are to
be prorated for part-time employment based on the assigned work week
(AWW) during the retroactive period. Additional hours for part-time employees
during the period from April 1, 1990 to April 18, 2003
are not to be recalculated to reflect the pay equity adjustments. |
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3.1.5 |
Employees who were on educational leave
and in receipt of an educational allowance prior to April 19, 2003
are not entitled to any pay equity adjustment for that period. Employees
in receipt of worker's compensation benefits will not be entitled to
any retroactive pay equity adjustments for the period of leave without
pay. |
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3.2 |
Factors |
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3.2.1 |
The retroactive adjustment covers the period
from April 1, 1990 to April 18, 2003. The retroactive
payments are to be considered pay for purposes of the Public Service
Superannuation Act (PSSA) but not for any other purposes or benefits
related to salary. The pay equity retroactive adjustment is considered
to be all inclusive as recalculations are not to be made on salary related
benefits such as promotions, acting assignments, overtime, severance pay
and unused leave for this period. There is no provision for interest payments
in this agreement. All adjustments will be automatically charged to a special departmental financial
coding. |
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3.2.2 |
For the retroactive period from April 1, 1990
to April 18, 2003, employees shall be entitled to receive a retroactive
lump sum payment based upon the following annual amounts: |
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April 1, 1990 to
March 31, 1991: |
$301 |
April 1, 1991 to March 31, 1992: |
$744 |
April 1, 1992 to March 31, 1993: |
$319 |
April 1, 1993 to March 31, 1994: |
$688 |
April 1, 1994 to March 31, 1995: |
$705 |
April 1, 1995 to March 31, 1996: |
$684 |
April 1, 1996 to March 31, 1997: |
$560 |
April 1, 1997 to March 31, 1998: |
$445 |
April 1, 1998 to March 31, 1999: |
$596 |
April 1, 1999 to March 31, 2000: |
$1,829 |
April 1, 2000 to March 31, 2001: |
$2,973 |
April 1, 2001 to March 31, 2002: |
$3,864 |
April 1, 2002 to March 31, 2003: |
$3,845 |
April 1, 2003 to April 18, 2003: |
$3,845 (annual rate) |
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3.2.3 |
In the case of deceased employees or former
employees who have since died, any payments owed will be made payable to
the estate. The administrator of the estate will be responsible for payment
distribution. |
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3.2.4 |
All employees who are in a TR position as of April 19, 2003 will
be entitled to an increase of $3,845 in their annual basic rate of pay.
All salary related benefits effective on or after April 19, 2003
are to be recalculated by compensation advisors taking into account the
new rate of pay. |
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3.2.5 |
Disability Insurance (DI) and Long-term Disability
Insurance (LTD) benefits will be subject to the terms and conditions of
the DI and the LTD plans. For additional information, refer to Section
3.11.7 (for DI) and Section
4.8.17 (for LTD) of the Insurance Administration Manual (IAM).
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4 |
PROCEDURES/INSTRUCTIONS |
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4.1 |
Pay Equity Adjustments |
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The last Treasury Board employing department
will be responsible for the issuance of pay equity adjustment payments
for all current and former employees who have worked in various departments
during the retroactive period from April 1, 1990 to April 18, 2003.
The retroactive payments for that period are all inclusive as recalculations
are not to be made on salary related benefits such as promotions, acting
assignments, overtime, severance pay and unused leave for this period.
There is no provision for interest payments in this agreement. |
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4.2 |
Reports |
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The following reports will be produced in late April 2004
to facilitate the work of compensation advisors. |
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4.2.1 |
Pay Equity Account Select Report |
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This report will list all accounts with
service and/or employment periods in the TR Group (BUD Code 31300) from
April 1, 1990
to date, including LWOP records. This report can be used to verify the
accuracy of the historical information on the Salary/Service History
(SSH) that will be utilized to produce the automated payment for all
7B and 7C accounts. |
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4.2.2 |
Dual Employment/Remuneration Report |
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This report will list all accounts with
dual employment/remuneration, i.e. all accounts for which there is a
Code "1" in
Field 19 and a Code "02", "13" or "64" in Field
39 of the Master Employee Record (MER). The report will be forwarded
to both departments, where applicable, for additional adjustments as
required. |
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4.2.3 |
Educational Leave Report |
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This report will list all accounts in the affected
group paid using entitlement Code 077 - Educational Allowance during the
retroactive period. Compensation advisors will be required to recover any
overpayments for the periods of educational leave. |
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4.2.4 |
No Master Account Report |
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This report will be produced, if applicable,
to identify affected accounts when records are found on the SSH but the
MER does not exist on the Regional Pay System (RPS) for these accounts. |
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Compensation advisors will be required to
create a taken on strength (TOS) transaction, using employee type Code "X",
and a struck off strength (SOS) transaction for these accounts. These
transactions must be processed prior to the automated retroactivity process
as identified in Subsection 4.4, in separate updates but within the same
pay period to ensure that regular pay cheques are not produced. |
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4.3 |
Entitlement Codes |
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The following new entitlement codes have been
created for the processing of CAPE pay equity adjustments: |
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Code |
Name |
334 |
Translation Pay Equity Retro Adjustment
- Superannuable |
335 |
Translation Pay Equity Adjustment -
Non-Superannuable |
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The two entitlement codes must be added to
the department's expenditure database (FIN Subsystem -- Line Object Table)
by the department's finance officer. |
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4.4 |
Processing Schedule |
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The following are the implemented or anticipated
processing dates for the implementation of the CAPE pay equity: |
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March 18, 2004 -- Update Pay Rates
Control File (PRCF) with new rates of pay retroactive to April 19, 2003
(including the pay equity amount); |
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March 18, 2004 -- Produce automated
retroactivity for the period from April 19, 2003 to March 24, 2004
for 7C and 7B pay accounts; |
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April 5, 2004 -- Permanent line update
for the TR Group with rates effective April 19, 2004 for 7C
accounts only; |
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April 15, 2004 -- Update PRCF with
new rates of pay retroactive to April 19, 2003 for the excluded
TR-04 and TR-05; |
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By April 30, 2004 -- Production
of reports; |
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May 27 to May 31, 2004
-- Input of additional transactions such as letters of authority (tax waivers)
for the retroactive period from April 1, 1990 to April 18, 2003;
and |
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May 31, 2004 -- Produce automated
retroactivity for the period from April 1, 1990 to April 18, 2003
for 7C and 7B accounts.
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5 |
PROCESS |
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5.1 |
Retroactivity |
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The retroactive payment for the period from
April 1, 1990 to April 18, 2003 will be automatically
calculated and paid for accounts with periods of service in the TR Group
in a 7B or 7C pay cycle. The automated retroactive period will be paid
using the new entitlement codes 334 for pensionable service and 335 for
non-pensionable service and will be split by fiscal year and taxation
year. All periods of service in the TR Group during this period of retroactivity
in a 7A pay cycle will have to be input by the compensation advisors. |
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5.2 |
Retroactive Payments for SOS Accounts |
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If the account is currently in SOS status and
the employee received a return of contributions (ROC), pension contributions
will not be withheld from the adjustment payments. If the account was SOS,
the employee received a ROC and has since returned to work, pension contributions
will be calculated and withheld from the payment of pensionable service
as identified by entitlement Code 334. |
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5.3 |
Acting |
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Employees whose substantive positions are within
the TR Group but were acting outside the TR Group will receive the adjustment
based on their substantive positions. Employees whose substantive positions
are outside the group but were acting as a TR during the retroactive period
will receive the retroactive lump sum payment prorated on a daily basis
for the period of acting service. |
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The automated payment will be based on the
SSH records. If the earliest SSH record for an employee whose substantive
position is in the TR Group reflects an acting position in a group other
than the TR Group, then the automated payment will be paid effective from
the date the employee returns to his substantive position (end of acting
period). In these instances, compensation advisors will be required to
report an additional adjustment for employees based on their substantive
position for the acting period. |
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5.4 |
Part-time Service |
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Employees who have periods of part-time
service during the retroactive period will have the automated payment
prorated to the hours identified as the AWW. The message "WC9 - AWW < SWW
- Verify Pmt - Adjt. May be req'd" will be produced so that the
compensation advisors can verify the automated payment and report adjustments
if required. |
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5.5 |
NSWW |
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Employees who work a non-standard work week
(NSWW) and have Code 1 or 3 in Field 34 will have an automated payment
produced. The message "WC8 - NSWW = 3, Verify Pmt - Adjt. May be Req'd" will
be produced so that the compensation advisors can verify the automated
payment and report adjustments if required. |
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5.6 |
LWOP |
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The pay equity adjustment amount will be reduced
by periods of LWOP, pre-retirement transition leave (PRTL) and past periods
of leave with income averaging (LIA) with the exception of maternity leave. |
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The eligibility criteria for this period
stipulate that employees who have periods of maternity leave - Reason
Code "K" and
who were in receipt of maternity benefits are eligible for the payment
and the period of maternity leave is not to be used to reduce the adjustment
amount. During the automated adjustment process, periods of maternity leave
- Reason Code "K", where the employee was active on the day immediately
prior to the start of the LWOP Reason Code "K" period, will be
considered as active service for a period from the "temporarily struck
off strength (T-SOS)" date up to the earliest of the following dates: |
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17 weeks from the start of the LWOP period; or
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the "retaken on strength (RE-TOS)" date; or
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the end of the adjustment period which is April 18, 2003.
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Compensation advisors will be required to verify
eligibility and adjust the amount paid, if applicable. |
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If a LWOP record is identified for a part-time
account and the "from" or "to" date of the LWOP is not within the retroactive
period, the message "WS8 - LWOP on S/S, Verify Pmt. - Manual Adjustment
may be req'd" will be produced so that the compensation advisors
can verify the automated payment and report adjustments if required. |
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5.7 |
Pension Deficiencies |
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Pension deficiencies for periods of LWOP
will be withheld from the supplementary payment, at the single or double
rate based on the reason code for the LWOP. A notification will be produced
when the double rate contributions are recovered for periods of LWOP
so that the pay office personnel can verify the deficiencies collected.
Pension regulations stipulate that effective May 1991, the deficiencies
for the first three months of LWOP are to be collected at single rate
but, for the purposes of this agreement, the deficiencies will be calculated
based on the LWOP code. Pension contributions will be collected at the
rate identified for the year stated in the effective to date of the retroactive
period. The rates are as follows: |
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YEAR |
SINGLE RATE |
DOUBLE RATE (LWOP
PERIOD) |
1990 |
4.7% |
9.4% |
1991 |
4.7% |
9.4% |
1992 |
4.7% |
9.4% |
1993 |
4.7% |
9.4% |
1994 |
4.7% |
9.4% |
1995 |
4.7% |
9.4% |
1996 |
4.7% |
9.4% |
1997 |
4.5% |
9.0% |
1998 |
4.3% |
8.6% |
1999 |
4.0% |
8.0% |
2000 * |
4.0% |
8.0% |
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* For the year 2000, a 4.0% single rate will be used for the first
three months up to March 29, 2000. Effective March 30, 2000,
the contribution rate for the current year (2004) will be used, namely,
4.0% single rate (double rate 8.0%) on the pensionable earnings up
to the yearly maximum pensionable earnings (YMPE) for 2004 ($40,500),
then 7.5% single rate (double rate 15.0%) on the pensionable earnings
in excess of the YMPE. The rate of pension indexing for 2004 can
be found in the Superannuation
Administration Manual Special Bullelin 2004-001.
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* For years 2001, 2002, and 2003, pension deficiencies
will be collected at the rate of 4.0% on the pensionable earnings up to
the YMPE and then 7.5% on the pensionable earnings in excess of the YMPE
for that year. |
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5.8 |
Death in Service |
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If the account is SOS with Reason Code 17 -
Death in Service and the effective date of SOS is prior to February 21, 2004,
the automated retroactive payments will not be produced and message NA8
- "Death in Service - Payment must be Handled Manually" will
be generated and forwarded to the pay office. Pay office personnel must
ensure that statutory deductions are not withheld and the statements of
remuneration paid (T4, Relevé 1) do not include the pay equity
adjustment amounts. If the account is SOS with the Reason Code 17 - Death
in Service and the date is on or after February 21, 2004, then the
normal process applies and the payments will be produced automatically. |
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5.9 |
Increase to Basic Rate Effective April 19, 2003 |
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All employees in a TR position on March 18, 2004
had their salary automatically revised to the new rates as per the attached
Appendix A. The revised salary reflected the $3,845 increase in the annual
rate of pay as stipulated in the agreement. The new rate of pay was reflected
on the regular pay for pay period 7, 2004 (regular cheque dated April 7, 2004). |
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The retroactive adjustment for the period
from April 19, 2003 to March 24, 2004 for 7C accounts and
the retroactive adjustment for the period from April 19, 2003
to March 10, 2004 for 7B accounts was automatically produced
on March 18, 2004, using the existing automated process used
for collective agreements. |
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These retroactive payments have been based
on the same formula as those applied for the period from April 1, 1990
to April 18, 2003, with the exception of LWOP for maternity leave.
Periods of maternity leave that occurred between April 19, 2003
and March 24, 2004 will reduce the automated payment produced
for this period. Compensation advisors will be required to make the necessary
adjustments. |
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5.10 |
Recalculations Effective April 19, 2003 |
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Recalculations of all salary related events,
such as promotions, actings, lateral transfers, maternity benefits and
overtime, will be required where the "Effective From" date is
April 19, 2003, or later. Compensation advisors will be required
to report the adjustments following the instructions in Section 6 of
this directive as well as modifying any ongoing entitlements as required. |
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5.11 |
Letters of Authority |
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The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) and the "ministère
du Revenu du Québec" have authorized the use of the tax waiver
form published by TBS. This form can be used by active and inactive employees
for an amount up to $10,000 if they have the available Registered Retirement
Savings Plan (RRSP) contribution room. Employees are to complete this
form and forward it to their personnel office, for retention purposes. |
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A waiver of $10,000 cannot be completed for
more than one pay equity agreement adjustment. Departments will be required
to control the amount of the waiver and the residual, if any, after each
pay equity payment is issued, until such time as all of the allowable amount
of the waiver is used. Transactions to apply tax waivers to the automated
retroactivity must be input by compensation advisors using the Entitlement
Commence (ENC) screen and codes 395 and/or 396 by the deadline identified
in the processing schedule (Subsection 4.4). |
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5.12 |
DI, LTD and SDB Premiums |
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DI, LTD and Supplementary Death Benefit
(SDB) premiums must be adjusted effective March 2004 to reflect the premium
calculations based on the revised salary. Since these new rates of pay
will not be reflected on the employees' regular pay until April 7, 2004, adjustments
will be required for the month of March 2004. Adjustments can be
recovered from a retroactive payment using the Supplementary Deduction
(SDD) screen or from a regular cheque using a Deduction Commence (DEC)
screen with the appropriate deduction codes and a closed period in the
past.
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6 |
INSTRUCTIONS |
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All adjustment transactions reported by compensation
advisors must be split by taxation year and for March 29, 2000 (to
differentiate between the two pension funds). |
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6.1 |
Periods of Service Associated with a 7A
Pay Cycle |
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Compensation advisors will be required to
report all periods of service associated with a 7A pay cycle during the
retroactive period from April 1, 1990 to April 18, 2003.
The retroactive payments for these periods of service will not be automated.
A report of all pay action codes (PAC) 33 processed during the retroactive
period, totaled by fiscal year for all employees in the TR Group, will
be produced by Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC). These
periods of service will be reported using the ENC screen and the new
entitlement Code 335 and must be split by taxation year. |
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6.2 |
Vacation Pay and Payment in Lieu of Statutory
Holidays |
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Compensation advisors will be required to
report all adjustments to vacation pay (Code 073) and payment in lieu
of statutory holidays (Code 173) for part-time accounts for the period
from April 19, 2003
to March 24, 2004 for 7C accounts or for the period from April 19, 2003
to March 10, 2004 for 7B accounts. This entitlement will not
be automatically calculated and paid on the retroactive adjustment nor
on any adjustments resulting from the recalculations. The adjustment
is to be reported using an Entitlement Adjustment (EAJ) screen. |
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6.3 |
Recalculations of Allowances |
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Compensation advisors will be required to
recalculate all salary based allowances such as maternity benefits, separation
benefits and overtime with an "Effective From" date of April 19, 2003,
or later. The screen and entitlement code to be used for the adjustment
will be based on the allowance adjustment being reported. |
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6.3.1 |
For adjustments to separation benefits due
to recalculation, the Termination Entitlement (TEC) screen is to be used
for SOS accounts. If the employee has since returned to work, these entitlement
codes are to be reported on an EAJ screen. |
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6.4 |
Statement of Qualifying Retroactive Lump
Sum Payment (QRLSP) |
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The QRLSP (PWGSC-TPSGC 37) will automatically
be produced in February 2005 for this adjustment. This statement
will provide employees with a breakdown of the amounts applicable to each
year in the retroactive period and will allow them to apply to the CRA
for a recalculation of their previous income tax returns.
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7 |
INQUIRIES |
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7.1 |
Any inquiries on the information
contained in this document should be addressed to your PWGSC Compensation
Services Office. |