Taxing Times Newsletter April 20, 2010

Appendix 40 Advanced Direct Assignment (ADA): Wave 1- April 7 to 21 is your 10 day Window

Taxing Times : A newsletter for OPSEU members working for the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Revenue

For Wave 1 members (whose positions transfer to CRA November 25, 2010) the 10-day window to exercise your Appendix 40 right to be considered for a direct assignment into an OPS vacancy opens Apr. 7, 2010. Members who were identified as impacted by the employer will have until Apr. 21 to submit the election form for accessing the Appendix 40 pre-surplus redeployment provisions of the collective agreement. Union and employer representatives provided information sessions and material about the Appendix 40 entitlements and obligations in November and December 2009 along with copies of the Employee Portfolios (EP) and the guide to filling it out.

The ministry is providing an election form to the affected members commencing Apr. 7. The collective agreement provides that the form must be returned by Apr. 21. However, the actual search for a potential redeployment opportunity will not begin until five days after the Employment Programs and Services Unit has received the Employee Portfolio. The EP does not have to be submitted before Apr. 21, only the form. If the form is not returned within 10 days the member forfeits the right to access this pre-surplus job search. Submitting the form to one of the ministry’s CMTAs does not affect your right to be offered a position by the CRA in June 2010. You only lose the right to be offered a CRA position if you are offered and accept an OPS vacancy. Submitting a form does not affect your subsequent surplus rights unless you are offered and accept the OPS vacancy.  

The right to be offered one Appendix 40, pre-surplus vacancy ends when you accept a CRA job offer or are offered an OPS vacancy through this process.   

Appendix 40 Advanced Direct Assignment (ADA)

Wave 2- Your 10 day Window still to be determined

OPSEU has filed a policy grievance seeking to have the 10 day Appendix 40 ADA open for Wave 2 prior to the end of 2010 versus opening the window after the Wave 2 job offers are decided upon by the members in January 2011. We expect the hearing to begin this month.

Forms … forms … and more forms

Wave 1 employees have been provided with a consent form to authorize the employer to share certain information with CRA, and to have the employees self identify that they meet the educational requirements (Introductory and Intermediate Accounting) for some positions at CRA.  Please review the form carefully and be sure you understand what you are signing.  You are authorizing the employer to share the information contained on the form, plus payroll information, and the attached documents.  The form does not specify which forms are attached to the application. 

The form also asks you to identify whether or not you have a health or disability accommodation plan in place with the ministry. The form does not ask that the plan be described or submitted with the form. OPSEU filed a policy grievance because its position is clear: it is a human rights violation to identify that there is an accommodation plan in place prior to getting a job offer from the CRA. We do not dispute that once an offer is made that the member has to agree to the disclosure of the OPS accommodation plan if (s)he expects the CRA to honour it. The HRA sets out that the CRA will continue to honour OPS accommodation plans for at least 18 months. After 18 months the CRA can ask for updated medicals to support a continuing accommodation. 

Conflict of interest

The Ministry of Revenue and CRA have different guidelines for what they consider a conflict of interest with your duties as an employee.  Please obtain and read the CRA guidelines prior to accepting an offer, or volunteering to take an offer with CRA.  If you want to work for CRA you may be prevented from fulfilling outside volunteer or business activities and be an employee at the same time.  By going to CRA you may not be able to continue with your other activities.  Some members may find it better to stay in the OPS and seek redeployment rather than work for CRA. We are seeking to have the ministry post this CRA policy.

Issues still to be resolved

Since the HRA was signed between the ministry and the CRA OPSEU has filed five policy grievances pertaining to the transfer of our RST members. There are  two policy grievances under Appendix 18 with respect to Investigators (FO5), Service Representative (OA11) and Administrative and Operations Support Clerk (OA8) incumbents identified by the ministry. OPSEU believes the ministry either identified the wrong number of incumbents, or the wrong incumbents directly impacted by the transfer. These grievances are expected to begin this month.

 If successful with the investigators grievance there will be job offers for a higher number of investigators than will be losing their OPS positions if there are no volunteers.

If successful with the Service Representative (OA11) and Administrative and Operations Support Clerk (OA8) multi-incumbent grievance the employees identified as impacted will change to be those less senior than the members currently identified. OPSEU’s position is that the members with seniority who decline a CRA job offer should not be displacing less senior incumbents who will then not have the opportunity to accept the CRA offer. Instead, if the senior member does not want to go to the CRA the offer should got to the less senior incumbents who will otherwise be without an OPS position.  

OPSEU has also filed a policy grievance about the employer’s position  that the Article 53/78 severance entitlement period ends Dec. 31, 2008. OPSEU’s position is that the entitlement period for both Wave 1 and Wave 2 extends to the date the member transfers..

We need your feedback!

Do you have questions or concerns that have not yet been answered by the employer?  Please contact an OPSEU member of the COR working group and let us know what your concerns.  We will try and get answers back to you as quickly as possible. This includes questions or concerns about the recent election forms that members  were asked to fill out by April 6 if  they are in multi-incumbent positions where fewer than 100 per cent of the positions are transferring to the CRA..

The COR working Group