The Canada Post Corporation (CPC) and The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) had a first consultation on October 27, 2022, to discuss CPC’s interpretation and implementation of the 10 paid sick days as per the Canada Labour Code (CLC).
The 10 paid sick days as per the CLC comes into effect December 2022, with the ability to access the first 3 days as of January 1, 2023. The final regulations for the 10 paid sick days as per the CLC have not yet been released by the federal government.
This bulletin is for information purposes only as it portrays CPC’s position and CUPW has reserved their right to challenge CPCs interpretation after we have had an opportunity to review and analyze CPCs implementation plan in its entirety. To that effect, CPC has indicated they intend to publish a scenario-based interpretation in a document similar to a Frequently Asked Question (FAQ). This document has not yet been provided to CUPW.
CPC indicated that they intend to follow the CLC guidelines and to comply with those guidelines. It is CPCs position that by adding six (6) personal days to the seven (7) personal days we currently receive as per the Urban and RSMC collective agreements, they will be compliance with the CLC requirements.
- All full time and part time Urban members will have six (6) personal days added to their current bank of personal days.
- All RSMC route holders will have six (6) personal days added to their current bank of personal days.
- For the first year, six (6) additional personal days will be added on January 1, 2023, and will be accessible on the same date. For subsequent years, a total of 13 personal days will be added to your bank on July 1st of each year.
As an example: This means if you currently have seven (7) personal days in your bank, as of January 1, 2023, six (6) days will be added, and you will now have thirteen (13) days in total.
If you currently have two (2) personal days in your bank as of January 1, 2023, six (6) will be added, and you will now have eight (8) days in total.
- These six (6) additional personal days can be used in the same manner as our current personal days. Canada Post said they will not differentiate between urgent or planned and pre-approved personal days.
- There will be no change to how personal days will be carried over or paid out. As per clause 20.04 (Urban) and 36.04 (RSMC), members will only be able to carry over five (5) personal days for a total of 18 personal days at any one time.
URBAN TEMPORARY EMPLOYEES
Temporary members will follow the Canada Labour Code. In order to be eligible to access the 10 paid sick days as per the Canada Labour Code you will need to be scheduled to work on that day and will be paid based on the hours you were scheduled to work.
As of January 1, 2023, temporary members who have completed 30 days of continuous service will have three (3) paid sick days available for use and will earn one further day at the start of each month to a maximum of ten (10) days per calendar year.
There are still many questions that remain unanswered such as:
- How the 10 paid sick days as per the code will be applied to PREs and OCREs; and
- How CPC’s interpretation will affect the payout of personal days.
We are unable to answer all questions until we have reviewed CPC’s full interpretation on this subject. CPC stated they will be providing this information to the Union within the next few weeks. We know that members are anxious to understand the changes and their impact. It is CPC’s responsibility to comply with the Canada Labour Code and the Collective Agreement.
In Solidarity,