ARCHIVED - Chapter 2-1 - Part-time Employment

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Chapter 2-1
Part-time Employment

October 1994

Table of Contents

Policy objective

Policy statement

Application

Policy requirements

Monitoring

References

Enquiries

Appendix A - Definitions

Policy objective

To promote the use of part-time employment where this is operationally feasible.

Policy statement

Treasury Board recognizes the positive potential of part-time employment and is committed, as employer, to providing attractive employment conditions and benefits for part-time employees. Accordingly, departments are encouraged to create opportunities for part-time employment as a means to achieve a better use of their human or financial resources.

Application

This policy applies to all departments and other portions of the Public Service listed in Part I of Schedule I of the Public Service Staff Relations Act.

Policy requirements

Departments must ensure that managers are made aware of the advantages of part-time employment as an effective way to:

• fulfil their operational objectives; and

• better manage their human resources.

Requests from employees to change their employment status to part-time must be in writing.

Operational consideration is to be the prime factor used by management in deciding whether to grant part-time employment status. However, in doing so, management must take into account the human resource objectives of the government, such as employment equity initiatives, and recognize the reason for a employee's request as a legitimate factor in the decision.

When a decision is made to accommodate an employee's request, a memorandum of clarification must be drafted between the manager and the employee before part-time employment begins.

The memorandum should address specific requirements such as:

• days and hours of work;
• call-in arrangements, if applicable;
• reduction of workload, where identifiable, to reflect the employee's new hours of work;
• any implications for benefits, e.g. pension, insurance.

The memorandum should also indicate the duration of the arrangement with the provision that management may, at any time, exercise its discretion to alter the scheduled hours of work, subject to the operational requirements of the organization.

Managers should make every effort to accommodate the reasonable requests of individual employees for changes to the part-time agreement.

Requests that are not granted must be replied to in writing by the manager, giving the employee a reason for the decision.

Monitoring

Departments are to maintain records on all part-time employment situations, including the hours of work and nature of appointment by occupational group and level.

References

Collective agreements

Terms and conditions of employment (TBM Compensation volume, chapter 1-1)

Public Service Part-time Regulations

Public Service Commission's Staffing Manual - Staffing Support Information (Chapter 6)

Public Service Superannuation Act

Enquiries

Enquiries about this policy should be referred to the responsible officers in departmental headquarters who, in turn, may direct questions regarding policy interpretation to the following:

for unrepresented employees:

Policies and Procedures Group
General Personnel Policy Development and Compensation Division
Personnel Policy Branch
Treasury Board Secretariat

for represented employees:

Staff Relations Division
Personnel Policy Branch
Treasury Board Secretariat

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Appendix A - Definitions

Part-time employee means a person employed towork less than the normal daily or weekly hours of work established for a full-time employee of the same occupational group and level (employé à temps partiel);

Job-sharing - an example of a part-time arrangement

Part-time work arrangements can vary considerably, as each situation is structured differently to meet individual employee needs while at the same time fulfilling the operational requirements of the organization.

Job-sharing a full-time position is an example of a part-time arrangement where the duties and responsibilities are split or shared among two or more people on a part-time basis.

Employees who are job-sharing meet the definition of a part-time employee and are subject to the part-time employment provisions of the relevant collective agreement and other authorities, as appropriate.