On January 20, 2025, the Employer at IRCC informed its employees of their intention to cut roughly 3,300 jobs over the next three years.
Your collective agreement has protections against job cuts. The Employer must ensure that employees are treated equitably and given every opportunity to continue their careers. This FAQ outlines your rights and options as a worker facing these challenges. For more information about the process, you can consult the NJC’s Work Force Adjustment Directive.
WFA is the term used to describe a process for reducing indeterminate positions in the core federal public service, agencies and separate Employers. The process was negotiated at the National Joint Council (NJC) as an important employment protection measure. Its main purpose is to protect the employment of our members.
The WFA process is outlined in the NJC’s directives and forms part of your collective agreement (Article 42.02) under the By-Laws of the National Joint Council.
Work Force Adjustment is a situation that occurs when a deputy head decides that the services of one or more indeterminate employees will no longer be required beyond a specified date due to one of the following factors:
- A lack of work
- The discontinuance of a function
- A relocation of a work unit in which the employee does not wish to participate
- An alternate delivery initiative, including:
- the service is being transferred to another level of government
- public-private partnerships (P3s)
- contracting out and privatization of your work
Budget cuts most often take the form of a discontinuance of a function, which refers to the elimination of a specific job function or activity within a federal department or agency. Positions associated with the discontinued function may be declared surplus. Employees occupying these positions may be affected by the WFA process.
Departments and organizations must:
- Consult with PAFSO as soon as possible.
- Maximize employment opportunities for indeterminate employees.
- When possible, provide alternative employment opportunities and give employees every “reasonable opportunity” to continue their careers in the public service.
- Make sure employees are treated equitably.
- Establish joint Work Force Adjustment Committees.
- Review the use of private temporary agency personnel, consultants, contractors, term employees and all other non-indeterminate employees and where practicable not re-engage them when it will facilitate the appointment of surplus or laid off persons.
- Identify situations where retraining can help workers continue their careers in the public service.
- Advise employees in writing about their status and any change to it.
- Actively cooperate with the Public Service Commission and other departments/ organizations. Interdepartmental cooperation is essential to maximize employment opportunities, although an organization’s first priority is to find jobs for workers in-house.
Additional Employer obligations can be found in Part I of the WFA Directive.
In a workforce adjustment situation, it’s important to be proactive and investigate other potential employment opportunities within the federal public service. Once it’s clear that a work force adjustment is inevitable, employees are obliged to:
- Actively seek alternate employment in cooperation with their department and the Public Service Commission.
- Actively seek out information about their entitlements.
- Submit any documents (like résumés) or additional information that could help the Employer to find them new work.
- Ensure that they can be contacted easily.
- Attend appointments made for referrals.
- Seriously consider training and job opportunities.
- Be aware of timelines and proactively consider options when they are required to make decisions.
PAFSO has been informed that employees will be contacted regarding the WFA by mid-February 2025. When you are first notified about a workforce adjustment situation, please follow these general guidelines:
- Get informed and ask questions about your particular situation and your options from both your union and the Employer.
- After becoming informed, seriously consider all the options available to you with particular emphasis on what the best option is for you, given the situation. The WFA Directive requires you to make difficult choices, and the choice that each must make depends on your individual circumstances.
- Ensure that you respond to requests from the Employer within the specified deadlines. Not doing anything will make the situation worse and potentially force you to accept an option that isn’t the best one for you.
- If you are deemed surplus and your choice is to remain employed by the federal government, you must actively seek alternate federal government employment and seriously consider all job offers. Be assertive in questioning your departmental human resources advisors about what they are doing to help you find new employment in another department or agency.
- Make sure you can be easily contacted by both PAFSO and your Employer.
- Union protections and processes are the most important resource assisting you through the job loss or transition process and you have the right to representation throughout, from before the process starts until after it ends.
The Deputy Head must notify you in writing that your services may or will no longer be required, depending on the situation. The notice must also include whether you:
- Are officially “affected” and if a process for determining who will be laid off is required,
- Will receive a guarantee of a reasonable job offer, and
- Have access to the opting provisions in the WFA Directives.
Depending on the situation and if the jobs being eliminated are unique, you may be notified that your job will be eliminated and that you will have access to the opting provision of the WFA Directive at the same time the notice is given.
For those who essentially perform the same functions as others, a system called the Selection of Employees for Retention or Layoff (SERLO) will be used to determine who will be retained and who will be laid off. In this instance affected members’ jobs will be retained or eliminated subsequent to that process.
Beyond the initial notification, there are a number of other important notices to be issued during the WFA process. These include surplus letters, job offers, opting decisions, requests for résumés and other personal information, as well as job interview notices. Many of these will specify timelines for responding or making a choice. It is very important for you to respond to the notices by the deadlines provided.
An affected employee is an indeterminate employee who has been informed in writing that his or her services may no longer be required because of a work force adjustment situation.
A surplus employee is an indeterminate employee who has been formally declared surplus, in writing, by his or her deputy head.
An opting employee is an indeterminate employee whose services will no longer be required because of a work force adjustment situation and who has not received a guarantee of a reasonable job offer from the deputy head and who has 120 days to consider the options outlined by the WFA Directive.
Opting employees who are not in receipt of the guarantee of a reasonable job offer from the deputy head will have access to the choice of options below:
Option A
- 12-month surplus priority period in which to secure a reasonable job offer.
- The employee will be laid off if they have not been appointed or deployed by the end of 12-month period.
- If you offer to resign before the end of the 12-month surplus priority period, the deputy head may authorize a lump-sum payment equal to a maximum of 6 months of the pay of your substantive position. This sum cannot exceed the maximum of what you would have received if you had selected option B (TSM).
- At your request, the 12-month surplus priority period shall be extended by the unused portion of the 120-day opting period that remains once you have selected this option.
- This is deemed to be the chosen option if the employee fails to select an option.
Option B
- Transition Support Measure (TSM).
- Payment based on employee’s years of service in the Public Service in exchange for resignation.
- The TSM shall be paid in one or two lump-sum amounts over a maximum two-year period.
Option C (i)
- Transition Support Measure (TSM) + education allowance ($15,000 or $17,000)
- Allowance for receipted expenses for tuition fees, costs of books, and relevant or mandatory equipment (according to the WFA Directive).
Option C (ii)
- Transition Support Measure (TSM) + Education allowance ($15,000 or $17,000) + Leave without pay (LWOP)
- Allowance for receipted expenses for tuition fees, costs of books, and relevant or mandatory equipment (according to the relevant WFA Directive).
- Delay departure date and go on LWOP while attending learning institution (maximum of 2 years).
There are mechanisms in place should you feel that the WFA process is being carried out unfairly, or if you think the WFA Directive is not being interpreted or applied correctly.
The first thing you should do is contact us and let us know about your situation. Our Labour Relations Officers can help you identify your best course of action.
To help you better understand the steps involved in a WFA situation, we have prepared a simple PDF flowchart. You can click here to download a copy.