Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission’s Proposals
for negotiation with
the Nuclear Regulatory (NUREG) Group
as represented by
the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada
March 25, 2019
Introduction
The objectives of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) (the Employer) for this round of negotiations are to update some articles (housekeeping), introduce some modifications to leave with pay and leave without pay as well as maternity and/or parental allowance provisions. An important objective is also to provide salary increases, which will continue to respect the federal government’s platform of fiscal restraint, and to propose a collective agreement with a duration that can support financial predictability for our organization.
It is also the objective of the Employer to support the global public service goal to minimize impacts on the Phoenix pay system.
Attached, without prejudice you will find the proposals of the CNSC for negotiation of a collective agreement covering all employees that are in the Nuclear Regulatory (NUREG) Group bargaining unit.
The Employer reserves the right to table other proposals in negotiations as well as any counter-proposals that will be in response to union demands.
As per past practice, proposed changes are in bold font, whereas any proposed deletions will be noted by a strikethrough “—”.
ARTICLE 13 – SICK LEAVE
The Employer reserves the right to present proposals with respect to this article at a later date.
ARTICLE 14 – PARENTAL AND FAMILY-RELATED LEAVE/MATERNITY
ALLOWANCE
Leave Without Pay for Care and Nurturing
14.03 Subject to operational requirements, an employee shall be granted leave without pay for the care and nurturing of the employee’s pre-school age children; or the long term care of an ill or aged parent or a disabled child or other family permanently residing in the employee’s household or with whom the employee permanently resides, or a person who stands in the place of a relative for the employee whether or not there is any degree of consanguinity between such person and the employee, in accordance with the following conditions:
Leave With Pay for Family-Related Responsibilities
14.04 (a) For the purpose of this clause, family is defined as:
ARTICLE 15 - OTHER LEAVE WITH OR WITHOUT PAY
Bereavement Leave
15.02 For the purpose of this clause, immediate family is defined as father, mother (or alternatively stepfather, stepmother or foster parent), brother, sister, spouse (including common-law spouse resident with the employee), child (including child of common-law spouse), stepchild or ward of the employee, grandparent, grandchild, father-in-law, mother-in-law, and a relative permanently residing in the employee's household or with whom the employee permanently resides, or
ARTICLE 17 – SEVERANCE PAY
The Employer reserves the right to present proposals to clean-up the language with respect to this article at a later date.
ARTICLE 21 – INFORMATION
The Employer reserves the right to present proposals to clean-up the language with respect to this article at a later date.
ARTICLE 22 - LEAVE FOR STAFF RELATIONS
The Employer reserves the right to present proposals to clean-up the language with respect to this article at a later date.
ARTICLE 33 – PAY ADMINISTRATION
The Employer reserves the right to present additional proposals under this article at a later date.
Retroactivity
The Employer proposes to implement increases to rates of pay on a prospective basis. The Employer wishes to discuss fair, reasonable, realistic and administratively feasible solutions to compensate for the retroactive period that are acceptable to the Employer and the bargaining agent. Subsequent amendments may be required, including to Article 33 regarding pay administration. The Employer also wishes to discuss a fair, reasonable, realistic and administratively feasible implementation period.
WAGES
The Employer reserves the right to present proposals regarding the implementation period of the provisions of the agreement at a later date.
The resulting salary schedules will be calculated and updated as Appendix 1.
The Employer reserves the right to present proposals regarding the rates of pay for employees performing Financial advisory or analysis duties at a later date (please see Memorandum of Agreement #8).
ARTICLE 36 – DURATION
36.01 The duration of this Agreement shall be from April 1, 20142018 to March 31, 20182022.
APPENDIX 1 – SALARY GRIDS
Salary grids will be calculated before negotiations conclude.
APPENDIX 2 – MATERNITY AND/OR PARENTAL LEAVE WITHOUT PAY
Please note that this proposal may require further amendments to ensure appropriate consolidation of the new requirements under Employment Insurance and Quebec Parental Insurance Plan.
Parental Leave Without Pay
6. An employee who has or will have the care and custody of:
(a) a new born child (including the new-born child of a common-law spouse);
(b) an adoptive preschool-aged child;
(c) an adoptive school-age child, upon demonstrating the child requires special needs.
shall, upon request, be granted parental leave without pay for either a single period of up to thirty-seven (37)six (36) consecutive weeks in the fifty-two (52) week period (standard period) or a single period of up to sixty-two (62) consecutive weeks in the seventy-eight (78) week period (extended period) beginning on the day on which the child is born or the day on which the child comes into the employee's care. At the request of the employee and at the discretion of the Employer, the leave may be taken in two periods.
Notwithstanding 6(a)(b)(c) where an employee has or will have the actual care and custody of a new-born child (including the new-born child of a common-law partner) or w here an employee commences legal proceedings under the laws of a province to adopt a child or obtains an order under the laws of a province for the adoption of a child, the employee shall, upon request, be granted shared parental leave without pay or paternity leave without pay for either:
i. a single period of up to five (5) consecutive weeks in the fifty-two (52) week period (standard period), or
ii. a single period of up to eight (8) consecutive weeks in the seventy-eight (78) week period (extended period).
beginning on the day on which the child is born or the day on which the child comes into the employee’s care.
APPENDIX 3 – MATERNITY AND/OR PARENTAL ALLOWANCE
Please note that this proposal may require further amendments to ensure appropriate consolidation of the new requirements under Employment Insurance and Quebec Parental Insurance Plan.
The parental allowance is payable under two options either 1) over a standard period in relation to the Employment Insurance parental benefits or Quebec Parental Insurance Plan or 2) over an extended period, in relation to the Employment Insurance parental benefits.
Once an employee opts for standard or extended parental leave, the decision is irrevocable. Once the standard or extended parental leave weekly top up allowance is set, it shall not be changed should the employee opt to return to work at an earlier date than that originally scheduled.
1. An employee who has been granted maternity leave without pay and/or parental leave without pay shall be paid a maternity allowance and/or parental allowance, as described in paragraph 5, in accordance with the terms of the Supplemental Unemployment Benefit Plan provided that he or she has:
(a) completed six (6) months of continuous employment before the commencement of maternity and/or parental leave without pay;
(b) provided the Employer with proof that she/ he has applied for and is eligible to receive maternity, parental, shared parental, adoption or paternity benefits under the Employment Insurance Act or the Québec Parental Insurance Plan in respect of insurable employment with the Employer; and,
(c) signed an agreement with the Employer as set out in paragraph 2.
2. An applicant, under paragraph 1, shall sign an agreement with the Employer, providing:
(a) that, unless the return to work is modified and another form of leave is granted by the Employer, she or he will return to work on the expiry date of the maternity leave and/or parental leave;
and
(b) that, in addition to any work obligations related to the payment of the maternity and/or parental allowance, she or he will return to work for a period equal to the period for which the maternity and/or parental allowance will be paid.
3. The calculation of time worked in relation to the obligations set out in paragraph 2:
(a) periods of leave with pay shall count as time worked;
and
4. An employee who fails to meet the obligations defined in paragraph 2 for reasons other than:
(a) death;
(b) lay-off;
(c) early termination due to lack of work or discontinuance of a function of a specified period of employment that would have been sufficient to meet the obligations specified in sub-paragraph 2(b);
or
(d) having become disabled as defined in the Public Service Superannuation Act;
will become indebted to the Employer for repayment of the maternity allowance and/or parental allowance proportionate to the number of days not worked in relation to the number of days for which the maternity allowance and/or parental allowance was paid.
(Option 1) Standard Maternity and/or Parental Allowance:
5. **Maternity allowance payments and/or parental allowance payments made
according to Supplemental Employment Insurance Benefit Plan will consist of the following:
and/or
and
6. At the employee's request, payments will be estimated and advanced to the employee. Adjustments will be made once the employee provides proof of receipt of Employment Insurance or Québec Parental Insurance maternity, parental, adoption or paternity benefits.
7. The maternity allowance and/or parental allowance to which employees are entitled is limited to that set out in paragraph 5. An employee will not be reimbursed for any amount of EI benefits that she or he may be required to repay pursuant to the Employment Insurance Act or the Parental Insurance Act in Québec.
8. In the calculation of the maternity allowance and/or parental allowance, the weekly rate shall be:
(a) for a full-time employee, the weekly rate of pay for the employee's substantive position on the day immediately preceding the commencement of maternity leave or parental leave without pay;
(b) for a part-time employee, the full-time weekly rate of pay for the employee's substantive position multiplied by the fraction obtained by dividing the employee's assigned straight time hours of work during the last twenty-six weeks of continuous employment by the number of hours in the work week of a full-time employee.
9. Notwithstanding paragraph 8(a) and subject to 8(b), if on the day immediately preceding commencement of maternity and/or parental or shared parental or paternity leave without pay, an employee has been on acting assignment for at least four months, the weekly rate shall be the rate the employee was being paid on that day.
10. Where an employee becomes eligible for an annual wage adjustment while in receipt of the maternity allowance and/or parental allowance, payments under paragraph 8 shall be adjusted accordingly.
11. Maternity and/or parental or shared parental or paternity allowance payments made under the sub-plan will neither reduce nor increase the employee's severance pay.
12. Under option 1, Tthe maximum combined maternity, and standard parental, standard shared parental and paternity allowances payable under this collective agreement shall not exceed fifty-twosix (52) (56) weeks for each combined maternity, and standard parental, standard shared parental and paternity leave without pay.
NEW - (Option 2) Extended Parental Allowance:
i. where an employee on parental leave without pay as described in paragraph 6, Appendix 2, has chosen to receive Extended Employment Insurance parental benefits and is subject to a waiting period before receiving Employment Insurance parental benefits, fifty-five decimal eight per cent (55.8%) of his or her weekly rate of pay for the waiting period, less any other monies earned during this period;
ii. for each week the employee receives parental or adoption benefits under the Employment Insurance, he or she is eligible to receive the difference between fifty-five decimal eight per cent (55.8%) of his or her weekly rate and the parental, adoption benefit, less any other monies earned during this period which may result in a decrease in his or her parental, adoption benefit to which he or she would have been eligible if no extra monies had been earned during this period;
i. for each week the employee receives shared parental benefits under the Employment Insurance Plan, he or she is eligible to receive the difference between fifty-five decimal eight per cent (55.8%) of his or her weekly rate and the shared parental benefits, less any other monies earned during this period which may result in a decrease in his or her shared parental benefits to which he or she would have been eligible if no extra monies had been earned during this period;
i. for a full-time employee, the employee’s weekly rate of pay on the day immediately preceding the commencement of parental leave without pay;
ii. for an employee who has been employed on a part-time or on a combined full-time and part-time basis during the six (6) month period preceding the commencement of parental leave without pay, the rate obtained by multiplying the weekly rate of pay in subparagraph (i) by the fraction obtained by dividing the employee’s straight time earnings by the straight time earnings the employee would have earned working full-time during such period.
MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT #1 – BANKED TIME
The Employer proposes to resign the existing Memorandum of Understanding.
MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT #2 – EMPLOYER POLICIES
The Employer reserves the right to present proposals to clean-up the language with respect to this MOA at a later date.
MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT #3 – WORKFORCE ADJUSTMENT
The Employer reserves the right to present proposals to clean-up the language with respect to this MOA at a later date.
MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT #4 – HOURS OF WORK
The Employer proposes to resign the existing Memorandum of Understanding.
MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT #5 – IMPLEMENTATION OF RETROACTIVE PAYMENTS
The Employer reserves the right to present proposals with respect to this MOA at a later date.
MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT #6 – ON SUPPORTING EMPLOYEE WELLNESS
The Employer reserves the right to present proposals with respect to this MOA at a later date.
MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT #7 – VACATION LEAVE IN EXCESS OF ALLOWABLE CARRY-OVER PAY-OUTS
The Employer reserves the right to present proposals with respect to this MOA at a later date.
MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT #8 – TERMINABLE ALLOWANCE
The Employer reserves the right to present proposals with respect to this MOA at a later date.
MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT #9 – RETROACTIVITY PAY DURING RESTRUCTURING
The Employer wishes to eliminate this MOA given that it had a specific timeline that has expired.
APPENDIX A
Short Term Disability Plan*
* Residing outside of the collective agreement
The Employer reserves the right to present proposals regarding the Short Term Disability Plan at a later date.
APPENDIX B
Disability Insurance Plan (Long Term Disability)*
* Residing outside of the collective agreement
The Employer reserves the right to present proposals regarding the Disability Insurance Plan at a later date.
Negotiations Confidence