Understanding Types of Priorities in Public Service Hiring

Priority status is a way of retaining employees (and in some cases spouses) that the Federal Government of Canada uses in its hiring processes. Becoming a priority in the public service always involves loss. These losses include:

• Layoff
• Disability
• Being relocated
• Job loss
• Voluntary leave of absence (eg a parent who takes a prolonged leave to care for their child
• Death of a spouse who was a military member, worked for the RCMP, or public servant whose death was attributable to their service.  

For this reason, no one hopes to find themselves a priority, but every year hundreds of people find themselves becoming a priority.

There are two groups of priorities- statutory and regulatory. Regardless of which group all priorities must meet the essential qualifications in order to be considered. Essential qualifications are exactly what they sound like, factors that must be satisfied to be hired. They include:

•          Education
•       Experience
•       Knowledge
•       Skills/Abilities
•       Personal Suitability

Education and experience (and if written communication is a personal suitability factor) are assessed using the resume submitted. A poorly written resume will dramatically limit the number of positions that a priority is referred to.  

When priorities are referred a hiring manager must look at statutory priorities first an in this order.

Statutory Priorities

Statutory priorities are so named because their entitlements flow out of the Public Service Employment Act and legal statue.

First: Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) members released for medical reasons attributable to service as determined by Veterans Affairs Canada. All CAF members, including regular force, reserve force and special force are eligible. This is the highest level of priority and someone in this category who meets all the selection criteria will be appointed to the position ahead of all others. If a CAF member who is medically released for reasons not attributable to service and can no longer meet universality of service they will have a priority entitlement under the group- regulatory priority.

Second: A public servant who has been informed that their services are no longer required (but have not been laid off). This employee is a statutory priority for their own department and will be a regulatory priority for all other government departments.

Third: Employees who took leave of absence, and their substantive position has been staffed indeterminately behind them. This only happens in the case of an absence of more than a year, and doesn’t always happen. As an example if a mother takes three years to care for her child her supervisor may hire indeterminately behind her after a year (triggering a priority status when the mother wants to return) or they may just use a term to fill the vacancies until she returns.

Fourth: An employee who has been laid off from the public service due to a lack of work, the discontinuance of a function (Compensation Advisors in every department is a good example) or the transfer of work or a function outside the public service.

For the official legalese version please follow this link.

Regulatory Priorities

The priority entitlements that fall under the Public Service Employment Regulation are referred to as “regulatory priorities.” Employees, veterans and surviving spouses with a regulatory priority are appointed after those with a statutory priority. Unlike the statutory priorities there is no order in which they must be appointed.

Surplus employees: Employees from other organizations who have been advised that their services are no longer required, but before any lay-off becomes effective. These people are statutory priorities within their own department.

Example: I am told my services are no longer required at Parks Canada. I am a statutory priority for Parks Canada and a regulatory priority for all other government departments.

Employees who become disabled: If an employee becomes disabled and, as a result of the disability, is no longer able to carry out the duties of their position.

RCMP members: In certain circumstances members who discharged for medical reasons.

CAF veterans: Certain veterans released for medical reasons not attributable to service:  Members of the regular force, the special force, the reserve force on Class B service of 180 days or more or on Class C reserve service are eligible. You must be released from the military (thus a veteran) in order to qualify. You cannot enact this entitlement while still in uniform.

Relocation of spouse or common-law partner: Indeterminate employees who were granted leave for relocation, and whose positions have not been staffed indeterminately.

Reinstatement: Employees who had a priority entitlement and who were appointed or deployed to a position in the public service at a lower level are a regulatory priority for the group and level they held previously. As an example, you were an AS02 but at the new work location you had to take an AS01. You remain a reinstatement priority for the AS02 level.

Surviving spouse or common-law partner: Surviving spouses or common-law partners of whose partner/spouse was employed in the public service, the CAF or the RCMP, and whose death is attributable to the performance of duties. As an example, an RCMP office is killed in the line of duty, their partner can apply to become a priority in the public service if the public service does not currently employ them.

For the official legalese version please follow this link.

Understanding regulatory and statutory priorities will help you as you are referred to positions within the public service. 

Veteran's who do not meet the above categories do not have priority status, but they may have "Veteran's preference". See next week's post to find out the difference between the two. 

Priority Hiring and Work Force Adjustment

                In 2013, the Government of Canada directed by the governing powers of the time, went on a mission to reduce the budget. Since the largest single cost in government service is wages, jobs were on the line. The program was called Work Force Adjustment (WFA) and for some it was an opportunity to be paid to break away from a job that they no longer loved, but for most it created fear and anxiety. As an HR Specialist I was tasked with training managers and employees about the rules and regulations but also working with employees who were in the midst of this process.

                I didn’t need much training to do this because in 2006 I had been work force adjusted from my position at National Defence Headquarters.  Three days after I got my notice, my husband was laid off from his job with a Bell Canada subsidiary. I know from personal experience that with preparation and knowledge that being a priority can be an opportunity if approached properly.

                At the time of my layoff, I didn’t work in civilian human resources (HR), but military HR.  I wasn’t especially knowledgeable or trained in WFA, but I was observant. I am a big believer in trusting your gut and paying attention to change. By the time my manager sat me (and my colleague) down  to tell us she was effectively moving us to another sections, I had already read the National Joint Council Directive on Work Force Adjustment. Instead of being grateful I was being offered a job, I challenged what exactly she meant. Understanding the language of work force adjustment allowed me to leverage what I knew.

                My colleague came out of the meeting shaking and in tears, until I sat her down and explained how this was going to lead to our “escape”. She was skeptical of what I was telling her, but since we were both analysts we pulled up the directive and went over it. After an hour of reading, we called our HR Officer and asked him to put our Workforce Adjustment “offer” on paper. He had no idea what we were talking about, since HR hadn’t been consulted, and told us he would call us back. In the mean time, we contacted our union and told them we wanted the WFA and wanted them to prevent our manager from taking her offer off the table. The offer was “If you don’t like it, we can fire you since we no longer need your services.” He was a little surprised since most people want the union to help them keep their job, not help them get out of the job!

                As I said I had done my homework and I knew that a WFA meant that I would become a statutory priority within my department any where in Canada or around the world and a regulatory priority for any other government department so long as I fit the statement of merit. I was confident that within the year I would be able to find a job. I also wanted to get out of Ottawa. Not being bilingual made my chances of promotion narrow. At the time, I was living in the small town I was raised in, and commuting almost two hours everyday. With a two and a four-year-old I was barley seeing them.

                When you do the paperwork related to becoming a priority you get to select the area where you want to work. Knowing this I picked areas where the cost of living was low, French wasn’t required and I would have a small commute.

                Within three weeks of officially becoming a priority I was interviewing for a job in my field, in a location that was ideal, and represented a promotion. I am happy to say I got the job and have spent the last 10 years managing the operations of a Learning & Career Centre for National Defence.

                This blog will provide you with stories of people who have gone through the priority hiring process, who opted not to enact their priority status or who were workforce adjusted. It will provide you with resources related to priority hiring and workforce adjustment and frequently asked questions to help you navigate your way through the process.