Management Leave Consultations

We have finally been able to commence discussions with DOJ and PPSC (in separate consultations) about management leave.  You will recall that as part of the last collective bargaining process, the parties had agreed to “to work on a good faith basis with the AJC to develop directives for each organization regarding management leave and flexibility in hours of work. “ (see here).

We are pleased to report that, so far, the meetings have been constructive.  We identified common areas of concern and interest in relation to the management leave application and approval process, including, how long it takes to process, when it is being requested, how discretion is being exercised, delegated authority, the overall purpose of management leave and the need for work-life balance, the increased need for transparency, increased accountability, efficacy and consistency, current perceptions, office culture barriers and possible stigma linked to requests for management leave, management’s responsibility to manage workload, the benefits of statistics that track refusals, ability to take management leave within the prescribed timelines, the need for criteria and privacy protection.   

PPSC indicated that it would be conducting an audit to address any potential systemic barriers. This was also raised with PPSC in response to the ORO investigation report. 

We were taken a bit by surprise when DOJ informed us that they had recently revised their HR delegation instructions at the end of March.   In accordance with the new collective agreement, Deputy head approval is no longer required.  However, new levels were created. Directors at the LC2 level will have discretion to grant up to 5 days of management leave whereas Directors general (LC3) can grant between 6 and 10 and AMDs (LC4) can grant in excess of 10.   These decisions were made without consultation and we are hopeful that DoJ will be willing to discuss the potential challenges that may arise in the context of this new delegation structure and consider revisiting their decision. 

Our next step involves agreeing on the guiding principles that will help inform the co-development of departmental management leave directives and identifying the problems experienced in relation to management leave.  We hope to also obtain available statistics if any in relation to management leave and identify what other statistics should be collected in future to ensure that whatever guiding principles we agree on, are respected.

We will be exploring a series of options in consultation with your elected GC representatives in relation to possible quotas, ratios or caps for hours worked in excess of 150 over a four-week period.  So, if you have any ideas, please contact your GC representative directly.

Management Leave during COVID-19

Over the next few weeks, PPSC plans to extend all management leave not taken due to the current COVID-19 situation. Its compensation team will run reports and extend or put back these types of leave where the system may have automatically removed such leave after 6 months of no use. 

We will follow up with more information regarding DOJ’s plans to address the expiry of management leave. Members who work in other agencies are encouraged to contact their managers to discuss whether a similar adjustment can be made for unused management leave. 

We’d also like to remind you to take print screen shots of your existing management leave in Peoplesoft so that you can verify the accuracy of any recredited amount of management leave.  If you have questions, please reach out to your regional GC representative.