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Members are barred from bringing any action, in respect of to their employment, before the courts. The courts do not have jurisdiction over labour relations matters in a unionized setting. Issues must be resolved, by the parties to a Collective Agreement, using the prescribed remedial devices contained therein.

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The respective roles and responsibilities of the National Component, National Executive, Human Rights Committees and Locals can be found in the National Component's By-Laws.

The By-Laws are an excellent guide to better understand what the roles and responsibilities are for the different elected positions in the Component, including the responsibilities of a Local Executive. Locals receive union dues from their membership and are the primary source of information to many members. Locals are encouraged to reflect on the responsibilities outlined and to develop an active plan for their term of office. While the By-Laws can only be changed at a Component Convention every three years, several members of the National Executive sit on the By-Laws Committee and would be available should you have any specific questions.

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The National Component Service Officer, assigned to your Employer Group, will represent the grievor. Where circumstances warrant, such as vacation, illness etc., an alternate Service Officer will be assigned. A letter or e-mail from the assigned Service Officer, acknowledging receipt of your grievance and requesting any supporting documentation, will be sent to you.

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The Service Officer assigned will review your grievance, and, in particular:

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You should apply on closed competitions and compete for other positions which interest you.

It is also possible that your job description might not recognize all your assigned duties. Your job description might not be properly classified at its current group and level. You should familiarize yourself with the Statement of Duties article of your collective agreement and discuss your rights with your Local PSAC Representative.

NOTE: Information on job content grievances, classification grievances and denial of acting pay grievances is available on the PSAC's website. The time limits, for the filing these types of grievances, is of critical importance.

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There is no problem with putting your grievance in abeyance, by mutual consent, in these circumstances. Make sure that you get confirmation, in writing, from your Employer and Local Union Representative about putting, and keeping, your grievance in abeyance. The confirmation letter should cover the time period your grievance will be in abeyance and the circumstances under which it is to be eventually scheduled for a grievance hearing. A griever on sick leave cannot be expected to make informed decisions about their grievance. It is unfair to ask them to do so before they receive medical clearance to return to work.

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The grievance process must follow a pre-determined path to resolution. Sometimes there is difficulty in getting collaboration amongst the players, at the various stages. Examples include grievors/employers who do not provide required documentation, Service Officers' schedules, the availability of the employers' representative etc.

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The employer is charged with this responsibility. Check with your Human Resources Department. Copies should be available for every employee when a new collective agreement is signed and printed.

If you are a Treasury Board employee a copy is also available electronically on the Treasury Board website.

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All employers, whether provincially or federally regulated, are subject to the duty to accommodate which flows from applicable human rights legislation. Both the provincial and federal human rights statutes exempt discriminatory conduct that is based on a bona fide occupational qualification/requirement.

"Disability" is broadly defined in human rights legislation, in respect to both what conditions constitute a disability and who can claim protection against disability discrimination. The definition protects individuals who now have, or used to have, a disability. Finally, the definition has been interpreted to cover not only an actual, but also a perceived, disability.

A "disability" for accommodation purposes may be temporary, long lasting or permanent. It may be an actual disability, or only one that is perceived as such in the eyes of others, or even an impairment that one used to have. While most disabilities are beyond an employee's control, the impairment may have a quasi-voluntary aspect to it, such as alcoholism or drug addiction. Not every absence from work for a medical reason constitutes a physical disability within the meaning of human rights legislation. The condition must entail a certain measure of severity, permanence and persistence.

The duty to accommodate extends beyond persons with disabilities, and includes grounds such as race or colour, religion or creed, age, sex, marital status, physical or mental handicap or disability, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin, family status, alcohol or drug dependency, ancestral origin or place of origin.

For example an employer has the obligation to accommodate a pregnant employee who is unable, as a result of the pregnancy, to do the full duties of her job by looking at modified work opportunities to the point of undue hardship. However, the employee is not entitled to any greater benefit because the modification arises as a result of pregnancy.
Employees with substance dependencies cannot often be accommodated simply by altering their job duties or providing assistive devices. Instead, these employees may be accommodated by more leniency with respect to lateness, absences and leaves of absence.

Determining the boundaries of accommodation requires more from the employer than simply investigating whether any existing job might be suitable for a disabled employee. Rather, the law requires the employer to determine whether existing positions can be adjusted, adapted or modified for the employee; and if not, whether there are other positions in the workplace that might be suitable for the employee.

The term "undue hardship" refers to the legal standard used to measure whether the failure to provide an accommodation is justifiable in a given set of circumstances. The financial consequences of accommodation vary infinitely. What may be eminently reasonable in prosperous times may pose an undue hardship for an employer in times of economic restraint or recession.

The employer's duty to accommodate includes seeing if the employee can continue to perform in their present job with some changes in duties or modifications to those duties with aid devices. If this is not possible, then the employer should look to see if there are any other types of jobs that the employee can do. The employer should first try to find another position within the bargaining unit. If impossible, then the employer should consider positions outside of the bargaining unit which could also mean relaxing a clause in the collective agreement to accommodate the employee. The employee does not enjoy the right nor does it compel the employer to displace another employee from their position in order to accommodate the other employee.

The jurisprudence suggests that the employer is not obliged to accommodate to the extent of assigning unproductive work or a redundant job to an employee.

In safety-sensitive positions, employers will be given greater latitude if they refuse to accommodate an employee because of the risk of relapse, provided there is a basis for this conclusion.

While the employer has a duty to accommodate, so does the Union and the employee seeking accommodation. The Union's role is to assist and cooperate in the implementation of the accommodation and to not unduly interfere.

Where an employee has a tenable claim of disability, the Local will normally support that employee's request for accommodation. The Local should urge employers to keep an open mind about what constitutes a "disability" and ensure that resistance to the diagnosis of "disability" is not based on concerns about the cost of accommodation.

Where the feasibility of accommodation is in dispute at arbitration, it is the responsibility of the Union to present the arbitrator with evidence of accommodation options that could have been employed and that would not have posed an undue hardship.

A leading case in Human Rights is the Meiorin decision. The importance of this decision is that it widens the employer's and Union's responsibilities so as to ensure that all of the employer's practices, policies and procedures do not discriminate or present barriers for employees.

The Meiorin decision also established three steps to determine whether or not the occupational requirement is a justified job requirement or not:

How can Locals and members be proactive/assist members seeking accommodation under the Duty to Accommodate?

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Harassment can be defined as any improper conduct directed at someone, that the person finds offensive and harmful, that a reasonable person would view as unwelcome or offensive. It includes improper acts or omissions which result in interference, restriction, coercion, intimidation or any disciplinary action which prejudice an employee's job security, undermine an employee's job performance or creates a negative psychological or emotional state for an employee. Harassment need not be intentional.

It includes harassment prohibited by the Canadian Human Rights Act, which consists of harassment related to race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, family status, disability and pardoned conviction. It is generally about abuse of power, it is always about control and is a form of violence. Intentional or not, it can result in the complainant's loss of dignity if allowed to continue.

The proper exercise of managerial and supervisory rights and responsibilities is not harassment.

Some examples of harassment, include:

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Group Life Insurance coverage is available for all qualifying members and their immediate families. For information and/or application call Coughlin and Associates, PSAC Insurance Trust, P.O. Box 3518, Station C, Ottawa, Ontario K1Y 4H5, telephone (613) 231-2266.