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Statutes of Newfoundland 1992


CHAPTER P-41

CHAPTER P-41.1

AN ACT TO EXTEND RESTRAINT OF
COMPENSATION IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR OF THE PROVINCE

(Assented to June 11, 1992)

Analysis

1. Short title

2. Definitions

3. Crown bound

4. Application

5. No increase in compensation

6. Exceptions

7. Effect on collective agreements

8. Arbitration awards

9. Pay equity

10. Bargaining in restraint period

11. Election not effective

12. 1991 c3 Rep.

13. Commencement

Schedule A

Schedule B

Be it enacted by the Lieutenant-Governor and House of Assembly in Legislative Session convened, as follows:


Short title

1. This Act may be cited as the Public Sector Restraint Act, 1992.

Definitions

2. In this Act

(a) "collective agreement" means an agreement in writing entered into between a public sector employer and a bargaining agent containing provisions respecting pay scales and working conditions for public sector employees and includes an arbitration award and an adjudication judgment;

(b) "pay equity agreement" means an agreement between a public sector employer and a group of public sector employees to recognize the compensation practice which is based primarily on the relative value of the work performed, irrespective of the gender of employees, and includes a requirement that no employer shall establish or maintain a difference between compensation paid to male and female employees, employed by that employer, who are performing work of equal or comparable value;

(c) "pay scales" means pay scales and other monetary benefits paid or provided, directly or indirectly, by or on behalf of a public sector employer to or for the benefit of a public sector employee, and includes the monetary benefits contained in the Labrador Benefits Agreement between the Crown and various parties signed on May 7, 1990;

(d) "public sector employee" means every person employed by

(i) the government of the province,

(ii) a Crown agency, board, commission, authority or other body of the Crown funded in whole or in part from money voted from time to time by the Legislature, but does not include a municipality or city in the province,

(iii) a corporation in which not less than 90% of all the issued common shares are owned by the Crown in right of the province,

(iv) a corporation established by an Act under which the corporation is made an agent of the Crown in right of the province,

(v) a corporation, body or authority managing a hospital, included in the Schedule to the Hospitals Act,

(vi) the Memorial University of Newfoundland and any agency, board, commission or other body funded or owned by the University,

(vii) a college established or continued under the Colleges Act, 1991,

(viii) an employer to which the Public Service Collective Bargaining Act applies,

(ix) a denominational education council referred to in the Department of Education Act,

(x) a school tax authority appointed under the School Tax Act,

(xi) a school board or a group of school boards constituted by or under or continued by the Schools Act, including every teacher to whom the Teachers' Collective Bargaining Act applies, and

(xii) a public sector employer listed in the Schedule to this Act or added to the Schedule by an order which the Lieutenant-Governor in Council may make;

(e) "public sector employer" means an employer which employs a public sector employee; and

(f) "restraint period" means a period of 36 months beginning

(i) in relation to a collective agreement or other contractual arrangement which expired before April 1, 1991, on the date of expiry,

(ii) in relation to a collective agreement or other contractual arrangement in force on April 1, 1991 which provides for an increase to pay scales after March 31, 1991, or which contains a clause requiring parties to the agreement or arrangement to conduct negotiations towards a revision of pay scales, on the date of the 1st scheduled increase after March 31, 1991 or on the date negotiations were scheduled to begin after March 31, 1991, and

(iii) in relation to a collective agreement or other contractual arrangement in force on April 1, 1991 which does not provide for an increase to pay scales after March 31, 1991, on the date of expiry.

Crown bound

3. This Act is binding on the Crown in right of the province.

Application

4. (1) For the purposes of this Act,

(a) officers and employees of Government House;

(b) members of the Executive Council of Newfoundland and their staff;

(c) members, officers and employees of the House of Assembly;

(d) officers and employees of the Supreme Court of Newfoundland;

(e) Provincial Court judges and the officers and employees of the Provincial Court of Newfoundland; and

(f) statutory office holders including the Auditor General and the Comptroller General of Finance,

are considered to be public sector employees.

(2) This Act applies to every public sector employee.

(3) This Act applies to Provincial Court judges notwithstanding the Provincial Court Act, 1991.

(4) A report of a tribunal respecting salaries and benefits of judges and the chief judge prepared under section 28 of the Provincial Court Act, 1991 shall not be implemented during the restraint period.

No increase in compensation

5. (1) Notwithstanding subsection (3) and the terms and conditions of employment whether under a collective agreement, other contractual arrangement respecting employment or otherwise, no increase shall be applied to the pay scales of public sector employees during the first 24 months of the restraint period.

(2) Notwithstanding the terms and conditions of employment contained in a collective agreement or other contractual arrangement, an increase applied to the pay scales of public sector employees or other items contained in a collective agreement or other contractual arrangement during the last 12 months of the restraint period shall be the lesser of the increase provided for in the collective agreement or other contractual arrangement for that 12 month period and 3%.

(3) Where there is a provision in a collective agreement or other contractual arrangement respecting employment which provides that pay scales applicable during the restraint period are higher than those pay scales in effect at the beginning of the restraint period that provision is void.

(4) Where a collective agreement or other contractual arrangement respecting employment provides for increases in pay scales after the restraint period, the pay scales shall be reduced as a consequence of this section and the 1st increase shall be applied to those pay scales in effect at the end of the restraint period as a result of the increase permitted under subsection (2) and each subsequent increase shall be applied to the re-calculated pay scales in effect immediately prior to the date the subsequent increase is scheduled to take effect.

(5) Subsection (4) applies whether the collective agreement sets out increases in pay scales after the restraint period by means of a percentage increase, dollar increase, specified higher pay scales or by another method of providing an increase to pay scales.

(6) The President of the Treasury Board shall re-calculate the pay scales which

(a) are scheduled to come into force during and after the restraint period in accordance with this section; and

(b) are contained in all collective agreements affected by this Act.

(7) The re-calculated pay scales referred to in subsection (6) shall be published in the Gazette and shall upon publication be considered to replace those pay scales as provided for in a collective agreement before being re-calculated in accordance with this section.

Exceptions

6. (1) An amount required to be paid under a pay equity agreement may be paid notwithstanding section 5.

(2) The pay scales of a group of public sector employees contained in Schedule B are exempt from the application of section 5 effective April 1, 1992 to the extent set out in the Schedule.

Effect on collective agreements

7. Notwithstanding amendments to collective agreements by reason of this Act, all collective agreements remain in full force and effect for their term.

Arbitration awards

8. Notwithstanding another Act, where the Lieutenant-Governor in Council determines that an arbitration award or adjudication judgment is made in contemplation of or to compensate for the restraint period even where there are no compensation increases during the restraint period, the Lieutenant-Governor in Council may set aside or modify that award or judgment in order to comply with the intent and purpose of this Act.

Pay equity

9. (1) Notwithstanding the terms and conditions of a pay equity agreement contained in a collective agreement or added by agreement to an existing collective agreement, no pay equity agreement shall contain a provision which implements that pay equity agreement retroactively.

(2) Where there is a provision in a pay equity agreement which provides that the pay equity agreement shall be implemented retroactively, that provision is void.

(3) Notwithstanding the other provisions of this Act, a pay equity agreement may be negotiated or implemented, but the 1st pay equity wage adjustment date shall be the date on which the pay equity wage adjustment is agreed upon.

(4) This section applies whether a pay equity agreement is reached or a pay equity wage adjustment date is agreed upon before or after the date this Act comes into force.

Bargaining in restraint period

10. (1) Notwithstanding the other provisions of this Act, where a collective agreement or other contractual arrangement expires during the first 24 months of the restraint period and a new agreement or arrangement is entered into, the new agreement or arrangement may provide for an increase to components of the pay scales or other items contained in the agreement or arrangement where there is an equivalent decrease to other components of the pay scales or other items contained in the agreement or arrangement, but the cost to government directly or indirectly of the implementation of the new agreement or arrangement shall not, during the restraint period, exceed in total the expired agreement or arrangement.

(2) Notwithstanding the other provisions of this Act, where a collective agreement or other contractual arrangement expires during the last 12 months of the restraint period and a new agreement or arrangement is entered into, the new agreement or arrangement may provide for an increase to components of the pay scales or other items contained in the agreement or arrangement, but the cost to government directly or indirectly of the implementation of the new agreement or arrangement shall not, during the restraint period, exceed that of the expired agreement or arrangement by 3% in total.

(3) Notwithstanding subsections (1) and (2), where a collective agreement or other contractual arrangement expires during the restraint period and a new agreement or other arrangement is entered into, in no case shall the implementation of a change in the pay scales of public sector employees or the other terms and conditions of employment contained in the new agreement or arrangement result in a total cost to government directly or indirectly

(a) during the first 24 months of the restraint period, in excess of the total cost of the expired agreement or arrangement; or

(b) during the last 12 months of the restraint period, in excess of 3% of the total cost of the expired agreement or arrangement.

(4) Nothing in this Act precludes the parties to a collective agreement or other contractual arrangement, by mutual agreement, from varying components of the pay scales or other items contained in the agreement or arrangement but a variation in a component of the pay scales or other items is subject to the provisions of subsection (3).

Election not effective

11. Where a bargaining agent elected to extend a collective agreement or other contractual arrangement under subsection 6(1) of the Public Sector Restraint Act, that election is of no effect.

1991 c3 Rep.

12. The Public Sector Restraint Act is repealed.

Commencement

13. This Act is considered to have come into force on March 31, 1991.

 

Schedule A

Advisory Council on the Economy

Agricultural Products Marketing Board

Alcohol and Drug Dependency Commission

Board of Commissioners of Public Utilities

C.A. Pippy Park Commission

Churchill Falls (Labrador) Corporation

Economic Recovery Commission

Enterprise Newfoundland and Labrador Corporation

Farm Development Loan Board

Fisheries Loan Board of Newfoundland

Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador

Livestock Owners Compensation Board

Lower Churchill Development Corporation Limited

Marystown Shipyard Limited

Newfoundland Cancer Treatment & Research Foundation

Newfoundland Chicken Marketing Board

Newfoundland Crop Insurance Agency

Newfoundland Egg Marketing Board

Newfoundland Farm Products Corporation

Newfoundland Hardwoods Limited

Newfoundland Hog Marketing Board

Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council

Newfoundland and Labrador Computer Services Limited

Newfoundland and Labrador Housing Corporation

Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro Corporation

Newfoundland and Labrador Youth Advisory Board

Newfoundland Legal Aid Commission

Newfoundland Liquor Corporation

Newfoundland Medical Care Commission

Newfoundland Milk Marketing Board

Newfoundland Public Service Commission

Provincial Advisory Council on the Status of Women -
Newfoundland and Labrador

Provincial Planning Appeal Board

Provincial Public Libraries Board

Workers' Compensation Commission

Workers' Compensation Appeal Tribunal

 

Schedule B

HOSPITAL CLASSES

 

 

Pay Level

Specification
Number

Classification

Old

New

5311

Psychiatric Therapy Aide I

HS-18

HS-20

5312

Psychiatric Therapy Aide II

HS-20

HS-22

5313

Psychiatric Therapy Aide III

HS-22

HS-24

5614

Driver/Psychiatric Attendant

HS-18

HS-20

5613

Urodynamics
Technician

HS-21

HS-23

5637

Ambulance Dispatcher I

HS-20

HS-22

5638

Ambulance Dispatcher II

HS-26

HS-28

5340

Respiratory Technician II

HS-18

HS-20

5618

Psychiatric Community Worker

HS-23

HS-25

 

 

 

 

 

 

OTHER GROUPS

I. Student Assistants

Hourly Rate Pay Level

Old Rate

New Step I

New Step 2

New Step 3

$7.43

$10.26

$10.61

$10.96

 

All Employees will move to Step I effective April 1, 1992.

II. Faculty & librarians of the Memorial University of Newfoundland which the Board of Regents and the Memorial University of Newfoundland Faculty Association agree are eligible to receive an internal anomaly adjustment within the pay scales.

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