Vacation and Compensatory Leave Cash-Out for 2021

Vacation and Compensatory Leave payouts:

Treasury Board Secretariat has provided that vacation and compensatory leave payouts will not be automatically cashed-out in 2021, unless requested by the employee. Employees are expected to take all their vacation leave during the fiscal year in which it is earned.

The decision to continue the moratorium on automatic cash-out of vacation and compensatory leave for 2020-2021, is based on the ongoing issues with the Phoenix Pay System, and the workload of compensation advisors.

This applies only to those Collective Agreements that have vacation and compensatory leave payout provisions.

If you would like to request a cash-out, please complete Form GC-178 [PDF - 289KB] (Accessible only on the National Defence network) on the Defence Forms Catalogue (Accessible only on the National Defence network), and have your manager approve it and submit it through the Human Resource Services and Support (Accessible only on the National Defence network).

When submitting the GC178 in HRSS, under Submit Pay Action, select work type Leave and Sub Type Liquidate Leave (voluntary), then attach your completed GC178 form.

Type of leave (note the appropriate code):

Code 115 – Vacation paid

Code 815 – Compensatory paid

The importance of using vacation leave:

We must continue to recognize the importance of leave, its influence on mental health and work-life balance. While the scheduling of leave has been impacted by COVID-19, all employees are expected to use their 2020-2021 vacation leave within the current fiscal year, as operational requirements permit and in accordance with the applicable collective agreement.

That said, while employees are encouraged and expected to take leave this year, the DM has been clear in her direction that employees will not be forced to take leave this fiscal year. Maximum flexibility and compassion are required.

All levels of managers and employees have had flexibility in the utilization and scheduling of leave during this difficult time. We must continue to use flexibility in our decision making and in determining how to best to support employees in using their outstanding leave credits. Management should, to the extent possible, allow for unused credits to be carried over and not schedule forced leave for employees.

Managers should consult their departmental labour relations advisors if they have any concerns or questions.