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Employer Guiding Principles for National Joint Council (NJC) Reimbursement Directives

Background

Prior to entering into a cyclical review of a National Joint Council (NJC) Directive, the Employer seeks the views of departments and other stakeholders. Based on these exchanges and a number of other factors (e.g. grievance patterns, repetitive enquiries, etc), the Officer of Primary Interest (OPI), in consultation with the Employer side members of the NJC Working Committee, will develop proposals to be included in a mandate request. The mandate is then shared with the Expenditure Management Sector of the Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) so that it can be reviewed to ensure financial impacts have been carefully assessed. Following this, approval of the mandate is then sought from the President – this establishes the boundaries for co-development with the Bargaining Agents. Upon completion of the cyclical review, a summary of recommended changes is sent to the President for confirmation.

In order to bring about even greater rigour to the mandating process, "guiding principles" to support decision making have been developed and approved by the President of the Treasury Board. The "guiding principles" are to be utilized by the Employer early on in its policy development related specifically to the National Joint Council (NJC) Reimbursement Directives, which includes: Travel, Relocation, Commuting Assistance, Isolated Posts and Government Housing and Foreign Service.

The following principles will support decision making in the further development of NJC reimbursement Directives:

  • Application of the policies and related processes must provide for a consistent, fair and equitable treatment of employees
  • Employees should be reimbursed for reasonable and justifiable expenses incurred in carrying out their duties and should not be out-of-pocket
  • Methodologies that support reimbursement allowances should be transparent and acceptable to all parties (i.e. management, bargaining agents)
  • Policy development must take into consideration fiscal realities, government priorities, public expectations and pressures

Recognizing the fact that there may be different realities associated with working and living either at isolated locations and/or outside Canada, the following additional principle will support decision making in these areas:

  • Differentials in cost of living expenses and/or hardship situations should be offset to ensure that employees are not out-of-pocket in comparison to their colleagues in Canada.
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