Leave Codes for Leave for Traditional Indigenous Practices

Date: November 23, 2023

To: Heads of Human Resources Directors/Chiefs of Labour Relations and Compensation, and Public Service Pay Centre, Miramichi

Introduction

The purpose of this Information Bulletin is to provide departments and organizations of the core public administration (CPA) with instructions on how to record the use of Leave for Traditional Indigenous Practices. This new leave provision has recently been introduced in a number of collective agreements.

Leave for Traditional Indigenous Practices

Subject to operational requirements, employees who self-declare as Indigenous and request leave to engage in traditional Indigenous practices shall be granted up to two (2) days (or the equivalent number of hours based on the applicable definition of a normal workday) of leave with pay and three (3) days (or the equivalent number of hours based on the applicable definition of a normal workday) of leave without pay per fiscal year for this purpose.

Please refer to the collective agreement for exact language.

For greater clarity, employees are to take this leave in full-day periods based on the applicable definition of a normal workday in the applicable collective agreement.

Eligibility

This new leave provision is currently available to employees covered by recently signed collective agreements along with the excluded groups that adhere to the terms of these agreements. Please refer to the applicable collective agreement to confirm its eligibility.

The new leave is also available to employees in the following unrepresented groups:

• Defence Scientific Service (DS) (levels 7A, 7B, 8)
• Executives (EX)
• Law Management (LC)
• Organization and Methods (OM)
• Personnel Administration (PE)
• Program Administration – Mediation Conciliation Sub Group (PM-MCO) (sectors 1, 2, 3, 4)
• eligible Governor in Council appointees, including deputy ministers and heads and members of administrative tribunals, agencies, boards and commissions.

Effective Date

In accordance with the memorandum with respect to the implementation of the collective agreement specific to each collective agreement, this new leave comes into effect on the date of signing of the respective collective agreement or as specified in the relevant terms and conditions of employment.

Recording Leave for Traditional Indigenous Practices

New specific leave codes are being developed to record this leave and are expected to be available for use in the leave systems within a few months. Until then, departments and organizations are requested to record the use of the leave as follows:

• Periods of Leave with Pay are to be recorded on paper forms leaving the code field blank.
• Periods of Leave without Pay are to be recorded in Phoenix using code 999 to ensure the timely adjustment of the employee’s pay.

To be clear, departments and organizations shall not use code 699 to record Leave with Pay for Traditional Indigenous Practices.

Departments and organizations will be informed once the new codes have been created and come into effect for this leave.

Departments and organizations will be required to report annually on the use of Leave for Traditional Indigenous Practices once new codes have been created and come into effect.

All questions should be directed to your departmental corporate labour relations or corporate compensation officials. If required, designated departmental officials can redirect inquiries to Interpretations@tbs-sct.gc.ca.

Original signed by

Stephen Diotte

Chief Negotiator and Executive Director
Strategic Compensation Management
Employee Relations and Total Compensation
Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer