RSNL1990 CHAPTER P-43 - PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION ACT - Point in Time

Short title

1. This Act may be cited as the Public Service Commission Act.

1973 No116 s1

Definitions

2. In this Act

(a) "agency" means a body comprising the public service as defined by paragraph (k);

(b) "chairperson" means the chairperson of the commission;

(i) the deputy minister in a department of the government of the province,

(ii) the Clerk of the House of Assembly,

(ii.1) a person appointed to preside over a statutory office of the House of Assembly,

(iii) the Clerk of the Executive Council, and

(iv) another official head of an agency designated by the Lieutenant-Governor in Council to function as a deputy minister for the purposes of this Act;

(d) "commission" means the Newfoundland and Labrador Public Service Commission continued by section 5;

(e) "commissioner" means a member of the commission;

(f) "contractual employee" means a person employed for a certain term for the purpose of performing certain specified work and whose terms and conditions of employment are specifically stated in a written contract;

(g) "delegation" means a delegation of authority by the commission to a chief executive officer;

(h) "employee" means a person employed in the public service;

(i) "minister" means the minister appointed under the Executive Council Act to administer this Act;

(j) "part-time employee" means an employee regularly employed to work less than the full number of working hours in a working day or less than the full number of working days in a working week of the agency concerned;

(k) "public service" means

(i) the departments and other portions of the public service of the province specified in Schedule A,

(ii) an office, body or agency considered by the Lieutenant-Governor in Council to be a portion of the public service and added to Schedule A under section 3, and

(iii) the House of Assembly establishment and the statutory offices of the House of Assembly;

(l) "seasonal employee" means an employee whose services are of a seasonal and recurring nature and includes an employee who is subject to periodic reassignment to various positions because of the nature of his or her work; and

(m) "temporary employee" means an employee, not being a contractual employee, employed for a specific period or for the purpose of performing certain specified work and whose employment may be terminated at the end of the period or upon completion of the work.

1973 No116 s2; 1986 c39 s1; 1989 c33 Sch B; 2001 cN-3.1 s2; 2005 c47 s1; 2006 c40 s21

Application of Act

3. (1) This Act applies to

(a) those portions of the public service of the province specified in Schedule A to this Act;

(b) a body or agency considered to be a portion of the public service of the province for the purposes of this Act and added to that Schedule under this section; and

(2) The Lieutenant-Governor in Council may by order

(a) consider a body or agency to be a portion of the public service of the province for the purposes of this Act; and

(b) add that body or agency to those portions of the public service specified in Schedule A.

(3) An order made under this section is subordinate legislation for the purposes of the Statutes and Subordinate Legislation Act.

(4) An order made under this section may be made with retroactive effect to a date stated in the order.

1986 c39 s2; 2006 c40 s16

Non-application

4. (1) This Act does not apply to the appointment of

(a) the following officers of the House of Assembly and staff of the House of Assembly establishment:

(i) the Clerk, Clerk Assistant and Sergeant-at-Arms of the House of Assembly,

(ii) the Auditor General,

(iii) the Citizens' Representative,

(iv) the Child and Youth Advocate,

(v) the Commissioner for Legislative Standards,

(vi) the Chief Electoral Officer,

(vii) the Information and Privacy Commissioner, and

(viii) political staff as defined in paragraph 2(1)(e) of the Conflict of Interest Act, 1995 ;

(b) a position compensated under the executive pay plan;

(d) chairpersons and members of the boards, or other equivalent governing bodies, of agencies;

(e) staff of the Lieutenant-Governor's establishment;

(f) staff of the office of the Premier;

(g) executive and special assistants to ministers of the Crown;

(h) private secretaries to ministers of the Crown;

(i) members, within the meaning of the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary Act, of the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary;

(j) members, within the meaning of the St. John's Fire Department Act, of the St. John's Fire Department;

(k) the Superintendent and Assistant Superintendent of Her Majesty's Penitentiary, within the meaning of the Prisons Act, and staff appointed under subsection 4(1) of the Prisons Act;

(l) barristers or solicitors;

(m) medical doctors and dental surgeons;

(n) contractual employees;

(o) temporary employees;

(p) seasonal employees; and

(q) part-time employees.

(2) This Act does not apply to the appointment of those employees whose terms of employment are governed by a collective agreement between the Crown, the Newfoundland Hospital and Nursing Home Association and the Newfoundland Association of Public Employees.

1973 No116 s5; 1992 c11 s1; 1999 c22 s21; 2005 c47 s2; 2010 c31 s18

Labrador Inuit rights

4.1 This Act shall be read and applied in conjunction with the Labrador Inuit Land Claims Agreement Act and, where a provision of this Act is inconsistent or conflicts with a provision, term or condition of the Labrador Inuit Land Claims Agreement Act, the provision, term or condition of the Labrador Inuit Land Claims Agreement Act shall have precedence over the provision of this Act.

2004 cL-3.1 s56

Commission

5. (1) The Newfoundland and Labrador Public Service Commission is continued.

(2) The membership of the commission shall consist of 3 members.

(3) The members of the commission shall be appointed by the Lieutenant-Governor in Council.

(4) At least 1 member of the commission shall be appointed from the public service of the province and have served in the public service for at least 10 years.

(5) In subsection (4) a period of service as a member of the commission counts as service in the public service.

(6) The Lieutenant-Governor in Council shall designate 1 of the members of the commission to be chairperson.

(7) The chairperson shall be the chief executive officer of the commission, shall have the status of a deputy minister and shall direct and supervise the administrative and technical activities of the commission.

(8) The exercise of the powers of the commission shall not be impaired because of a vacancy in its membership.

(9) Acts done by the commission shall, notwithstanding that it is afterwards discovered that there was some defect in the appointment or qualifications of a person purporting to be a member of the commission, be as valid as if the defect had not existed.

(10) There shall be paid out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund to a commissioner the remuneration that shall be determined by the Lieutenant-Governor in Council, provided that the Lieutenant-Governor in Council may not reduce the remuneration which a commissioner previously received without the assent of the House of Assembly.

(11) A commissioner shall not hold another office in the public service of the province or engage in other employment.

1973 No116 s6; 1983 c67 s1; 2001 cN-3.1 s2

Tenure of office

6. (1) A commissioner holds office during good behaviour, but is removable by the Lieutenant-Governor in Council on address of the House of Assembly.

(2) A commissioner shall discharge the duties assigned to him or her under this Act and the regulations and the other duties that the minister assigns which shall be consistent with this Act.

(3) A commissioner shall before entering upon his or her duties take and sign before the Clerk of the Executive Council the oath or affirmation set out in Schedule B, and that signed oath or affirmation shall be retained by the Clerk of the Executive Council as part of the records of the clerk's office.

1973 No116 s7; 1986 c39 s3

Staff

7. Those officers, clerks and employees that are necessary for the proper conduct of the business of the commission shall be appointed or employed in the manner authorized by law, but the minister may authorize the temporary employment of the technical and other assistants that he or she thinks necessary and fix the remuneration of and prescribe the expenses that may be incurred by those assistants in carrying out their official duties.

1973 No116 s8

Pension and leave rights

8. A

(a) commissioner; and

(b) clerk, officer or employee with the commission who would, if employed by a department of the government of the province, be an employee for the purposes of the Public Service Pensions Act

is considered to be an employee for the purposes of the Public Service Pensions Act, including the purposes of the retirement age and the advanced or deferred pension privileges of an employee, and shall be subject to the same provisions respecting leave as a full-time employee of a department of the government of the province, however, the Lieutenant-Governor in Council may extend the service of a commissioner beyond normal retirement age and that extension shall be treated as re-employment after retirement age for the purposes of the Public Service Pensions Act.

1973 No116 s9

Procedure and records

9. The commission shall adopt rules of procedure, subject to the approval of the Lieutenant-Governor in Council, and shall keep a record of its proceedings.

1973 No116 s10

Right of commission to access and help

10. Chief executive officers and employees in the public service shall give the commission the access to their respective offices and the facilities, assistance and information that the commission may require for the performance of its powers, functions and duties.

1973 No116 s11

Appointments and promotions

11. Appointments or promotions to positions within the public service, except those positions referred to in section 4, shall not be made except on the recommendation of the commission.

1973 No116 s12

Idem

12. Appointments to positions within the public service shall be made from within the public service except where, in the opinion of the commission, it is not in the public interest to comply with this requirement.

1973 No116 s13

Merit principles

13. (1) Recommendations for appointments to and promotions within the public service shall be based on merit principles and made by the commission through competitive written examination or by other processes of personnel selection designated to establish the merit of candidates that the commission considers are in the best interests of the public service.

(2) Subject to the regulations, the commission may, in writing, and subject to those regulations that the Lieutenant-Governor in Council may make, delegate to a chief executive officer the authority to exercise and perform the powers or functions of the commission in relation to appointments and promotions to specific positions or categories of positions within that part of the public service of which he or she is the chief executive officer.

(3) Delegations shall be subject to review annually by the commission in accordance with rules of procedures adopted by the commission.

1973 No116 s14; 1983 c67 s2

Boards of examiners

14. (1) The commission may set up boards of examiners to test and pass upon the qualifications of candidates for appointment to or promotion within the public service.

(2) The chief executive officer of the agency in respect of which candidates for appointment or promotion are examined by a board of which he or she is not a member under subsection (1) may, upon so requesting, be present or designate a representative to be present at the interviewing of the candidates, with the right to participate in the interviewing, but he or she shall not be present at, or have the right to participate in, the making of the recommendation referred to in subsection (5).

(3) The chairperson, when sitting upon a board of examiners, shall be chairperson of the board, and in other cases he or she shall designate a chairperson.

(4) Members of boards of examiners, except those who are commissioners or employees in the public service, may be paid the daily allowance for the time occupied by them in attending a board of examiners and the expenses that the regulations provide.

(5) In respect of each appointment or promotion, the board of examiners shall recommend 3 candidates in order of merit and this list shall be submitted to the chief executive officer concerned for final selection provided that the board may recommend less than 3 if it is considered that fewer than 3 candidates are qualified.

(6) The recommendation of a board of examiners under subsection (5) shall be considered to be the recommendation of the commission.

1973 No116 s15

Duties of commission

15. (1) The commission shall

(a) prescribe the standards and procedures to be followed in the recruitment and selection of candidates for appointment to and promotion within the public service;

(b) review personnel transactions and investigate and report to the minister upon this Act and upon the violation of the regulations and upon other matters relative to the public service, its officers and other employees;

(d) provide personnel planning advisory services;

(e) advertise and effectively distribute information regarding vacant positions in the public service other than with respect to appointments referred to in section 4;

(f) prepare, maintain and distribute to employees of the public service appropriate staff procedure manuals;

(g) provide staff evaluation advisory services;

(h) provide, in consultation with chief executive officers and the Treasury Board, appropriate staff training and executive development programs;

(i) assume the additional duties and supply the additional services that may be prescribed by the Lieutenant-Governor in Council; and

(j) do other acts and things that may be necessary for the proper administration of this Act and the regulations.

(2) Where a report referred to in paragraph (1)(b) relates to a personnel transaction involving the House of Assembly establishment or a statutory office of the House of Assembly, the report shall be made to the Speaker of the House of Assembly.

1973 No116 s16; 2005 c47 s3

Concerning the Public Inquiries Act

16. For the purpose of carrying out his or her powers, functions and duties under this Act, a commissioner has the powers, authorities, privileges and immunities that are or may be conferred upon a commissioner under the Public Inquiries Act and is considered to be an "investigating body" for the purposes of the Public Investigations Evidence Act.

1973 No116 s17

Annual report to minister

17. The chairperson shall, following the end of each financial year of the government, make a report to the minister of the transactions and affairs of the commission during the immediately preceding financial year, and the minister shall lay the report before the Legislature within 15 days after it is submitted to him or her if the Legislature is then sitting, and, if it is not sitting, then within 15 days after the beginning of the next session.

1973 No116 s18

Regulations

18. The Lieutenant-Governor in Council may make regulations

(a) for the purposes of subsection 6(2);

(b) specifying the powers and functions of the commission that may be delegated under subsection 13(2), providing for the positions or categories of positions to which that subsection may apply, prescribing procedures to be followed in the exercise of the delegation and providing for the monitoring by the commission of the use of the delegation;

(d) necessary or desirable for the carrying out of the commission's powers, functions and duties under this Act; and

(e) generally, to give effect to the purpose of this Act.

1973 No116 s19

Attempt to influence commission

19. (1) A person shall not, directly or indirectly, try to influence improperly the commission, a member of a board of examiners referred to in section 14, an employee of the commission or a chief executive officer with respect to the appointment of himself or herself or another person to the public service or with respect to the promotion of himself or herself or another employee in the public service.

(2) A person who violates subsection (1) is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding $500 and in default of payment to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 30 days and, where the person is employed in the public service, he or she is also liable to suspension or dismissal.

(3) A prosecution under this section shall not be taken except with the written consent of the minister.

1973 No116 s20

Schedule A

1. A department established under the Executive Council Act

2. The Executive Council Office

3. C.A. Pippy Park Commission

4. College of the North Atlantic

5. Government Purchasing Agency

6. Municipal Assessment Agency

7. Newfoundland and Labrador Public Service Commission

8. The Rooms Corporation of Newfoundland and Labrador

9. The Provincial Information and Library Resources Board

2005 c47 s4

Schedule B

I, A.B., of ............... solemnly swear (or solemnly, sincerely and truly declare and affirm) that I will faithfully and honestly fulfil the duties which devolve upon me as a member of the Newfoundland and Labrador Public Service Commission and that I will not, without due authority in that behalf, disclose or make known matters which come to my knowledge because of my holding office as a member of the commission. (Where an oath is taken, add "So help me God".)

1986 c39 s4; 2001 cN-3.1 s2