Guidelines on Considerations for Public Service Commission of Canada Investigations Conducted under Sections 66, 67(1), 68 or 69 of the Public Service Employment Act

Introduction

The Commission will exercise its discretionary authority to investigate appointment processes in order to provide oversight and ensure that appointments are made in accordance with the Public Service Employment Act.

Objective

These guidelines are intended to communicate the considerations that will guide the Commission in deciding whether to investigate an appointment process.

Application

These guidelines apply to investigations conducted by the Public Service Commission relating to:

• external appointment processes (Public Service Employment Act, section 66)
• non-delegated internal appointment processes (subsection 67(1))
• appointment processes where there is reason to believe that an appointment was not free from political influence (section 68)
• appointment processes where there is reason to believe that fraud may have occurred (section 69)

These guidelines do not apply to investigations conducted at the request of the deputy head (subsection 67(2)) nor to investigations of allegations of improper political activities (sections 118 and 119).

Considerations

In deciding whether to investigate an appointment process, the Commission will consider information obtained by any means, including but not limited to audit findings, concerns raised by individuals, internal information and media reports.

The decision to investigate or not to investigate is discretionary and will be determined on a case-by-case basis. In order to reach its decision, the Commission may consider, but is not limited to, whether:

• the matter falls within the Commission’s jurisdiction under section 66, subsection 67(1), section 68 or section 69 of the Public Service Employment Act
• the matter raises the possibility of a problem in the application of the Public Service Employment Act that affected the selection of the person appointed or proposed for appointment or a breach of the Act, the Public Service Employment Regulations, Public Service Commission policies or the terms and conditions of delegation
• the information obtained suggests the possibility of a pattern of irregularities in the application of the Act, the Public Service Employment Regulations, Public Service Commission policies or the terms and conditions of delegation
• the matter has come to the attention of the Public Service Commission by a person involved in the process within 6 months of the appointment being made or proposed; however, the Public Service Commission may, in the interest of fairness and the protection of merit, extend this time period
• the matter has come to the attention of the Public Service Commission by any other means, and the Public Service Commission believes it should intervene, whether or not it is within 6 months of the appointment being made or proposed
• there exists the possibility of implementing corrective actions
• there is no recourse available for the matter through other avenues
• the investigation request is considered to be vexatious or not to have been made in good faith