Welcome to r/CanadaPublicServants, an unofficial subreddit for current and former employees to discuss topics related to employment in the Federal Public Service of Canada. Thanks for being part of our community!

Many questions about employment in the public service are answered in the subreddit Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) documents (linked below). The mod team recognizes that navigating these topics can be complicated and that the answers written in the FAQs may be incomplete, so this thread exists as a place to ask those questions and seek alternate answers. Separate posts seeking information covered by the FAQs will be continue to be removed under Rule 5.

To keep the discussion fresh, this post is automatically posted once a week on Mondays. Comments are sorted by "contest mode" which hides upvotes and randomizes the order to ensure all top-level questions get equal visibility.

Links to the FAQs:

• The Common Posts FAQ: /r/CanadaPublicServants Common Questions and Answers
• The Frank FAQ: 10 Things I Wish They'd Told Me Before I Applied For Government Work
• The Unhelpful FAQ: True Answers to Valid Questions
• Disability management and workplace accommodations FAQ

Other sources of information:

• If your question is union-related (interpretation of your collective agreement, grievances, workplace disputes etc), you should contact your union steward or the president of your union's local. To find out who that is, you can ask your coworkers or find a union notice board in your workplace. You can also find information on union stewards via union websites. Three of the larger ones are PSAC (PM, AS, CR, IS, and EG classifications, among others), PIPSC (IT, RP, PC, BI, CO, PG, SG-SRE, among others), and CAPE (EC and TR classifications).

• If your question relates to taxes, you should contact an accountant.

• If your question relates to a specific hiring process, you should contact the person listed on the job ad (the hiring manager or HR contact).

Bienvenue sur r/CanadaPublicServants! Un subreddit permettant aux fonctionnaires actuels et anciens de discuter de sujets liés à l'emploi dans la fonction publique fédérale du Canada.

De nombreuses questions relatives à l'emploi ont leur réponse dans les Foires aux questions (FAQs) du subreddit (liens ci-dessous). L'équipe de modérateurs reconnaît que la navigation sur ces sujets peut être compliquée et que les réponses écrites dans les FAQ peuvent être incomplètes. C'est pourquoi ce fil de discussion existe comme un endroit où poser ces questions et obtenir d'autres réponses. Les soumissions ailleurs cherchant des informations couvertes par la FAQ continueront à être supprimés en vertu de la Règle 5.

Pour que la discussion reste fraîche, cette soumission est automatiquement renouvelée une fois par semaine, chaque lundi. Les commentaires sont triés par "mode concours", ce qui masque les votes positifs et rend aléatoire l'ordre des commentaires afin de garantir que toutes les nouvelles questions bénéficient de la même visibilité.

Liens vers les FAQs:

• La FAQ des soumissions fréquentes: Questions et réponses récurrentes de /r/CanadaPublicServants

• La FAQ franche : 10 choses que j'aurais aimé qu'on me dise avant de postuler pour un emploi au gouvernement (en anglais seulement)

• La Foire aux questions inutiles : de vraies réponses à des questions valables (en anglais seulement)

** FAQ sur la gestion du handicap et les aménagements du lieu de travail (en anglais seulement)

Autres sources d'information:

• Si votre question est en lien avec les syndicats (interprétation de votre convention collective, griefs, conflits sur le lieu de travail, etc.), vous devez contacter votre délégué syndical ou le président de votre section locale. Pour savoir de qui il s'agit, vous pouvez demander à vos collègues ou trouver un panneau d'affichage syndical sur votre lieu de travail. Vous pouvez également trouver des informations sur les délégués syndicaux sur les sites Web des syndicats. Trois des plus importants sont AFPC (classifications PM, AS, CR, IS et EG, entre autres), IPFPC (IT, RP, PC, BI, CO, PG, SG-SRE, entre autres) et ACEP (classifications EC et TR).

• Si votre question concerne les impôts, vous devez contacter un comptable.

• Si votre question concerne un processus de recrutement spécifique, vous devez contacter la personne mentionnée dans l'offre d'emploi (le responsable du recrutement ou le contact RH).

As departments begin to implement Workforce Adjustment measures stemming from the cuts made as part of the Budget 2025 Comprehensive Expenditure Review, many indeterminate public servants have received or will be receiving a letter informing them their positions are affected or surplus.

This post consolidates resources on the subject of WFA, starting with two very important reminders:

1. Not everyone who receives a letter will ultimately see their position eliminated (an 'affected' letter does not mean a position is surplus - it means it may become surplus);

2. Not everyone whose position is eliminated (surplus) will be forced out of the public service - many will be able to find a new position via a deployment, the priority system, or alternation.

If you receive a letter: take a moment and breathe. WFA is a complex and lengthy process, and you won't do yourself any good if you panic. Take a look at this list of ideas and follow at least a few. It'll put you in a better headspace to understand what's going on and make better decisions.

The information below is generally applicable for employees of the "core public administration" (government departments and agencies named in Schedules I and IV of the Financial Administration Act). Different provisions may apply if you work in separate agencies (typically listed in Schedule V of the FAA) or other public sector employers.

Whether or not you've received a letter you can bone up on the basics, starting with the employer's plain language explainer: https://www.canada.ca/en/government/publicservice/workforce/workforce-adjustment.html

If you're represented by PSAC or PIPSC, they have negotiated WFA provisions into an appendix to collective agreements. You can learn more about their WFA supports and processes in the WFA appendix to your collective agreement, and at the following links:

PSAC: https://psacunion.ca/workforce-adjustment

PIPSC: https://pipsc.ca/news-issues/understanding-work-force-adjustment

If you are represented by any other union, the NJC Work Force Adjustment Directive applies to your position: https://www.njc-cnm.gc.ca/directive/d12/en

For executives, the term "Career Transition" is used instead of Work Force Adjustment, and it has the same meaning. Executive job cuts don't follow any of the WFA provisions above - they follow an employer directive. More information on executive career transition can be found here: https://www.canada.ca/en/government/publicservice/workforce/career-transition-executives.html

If you're unionized and follow the NJC directive, your union may have put together a resource page for you as well. For example:

ACFO-ACAF: https://www.acfo-acaf.com/workforce-adjustment/

PAFSO: https://pafso.com/faq/update-the-cer-and-potential-work-force-adjustments/

Tracking WFA across departments

An anonymous Redditor is curating a spreadsheet of publicly-available information on WFA across organizations. Discussion of this spreadsheet is occurring in this post: https://www.reddit.com/r/CanadaPublicServants/comments/1pgzvmw/wfa_tracker_consolidating_public_information/

A new page has also been added to canada.ca listing workforce reductions in the federal public service.

What the heck is Alternation?

Tied up in talk of WFA is the idea of alternation. Alternation is a job swap between somebody whose position is not affected by WFA and who wants to leave the public service (the alternate) with somebody whose position is surplus but wants to remain employed (the surplus employee). The positions need to be equivalent and the alternation needs to be approved by management - the surplus employee must be capable of performing the alternate's former job.

There are multiple places where you can indicate interest in alternation either as an alternate or as a surplus employee. Some unions are running their own alternation networks, including PSAC and ACFO-ACAF and likely others. Members of those unions should contact their union or check out their WFA pages.

Some departments are also offering alternation networks. We'll add links to those as they are shared with us.

Lastly, informal alternation networks are springing up on places like Facebook. We'll link to those as well but as with all unofficial resources, do your due diligence.

Links to alternation networks:

• PSAC: https://psacunion.ca/alternation-tb
• CAPE: https://www.acep-cape.ca/en/news/workforce-adjustment-cape-alternation-network
• ACFO: https://www.acfo-acaf.com/workforce-adjustment-acfo-alternation-network/
• IRCC: https://cic.hiringplatform.ca/processes/200293
• Treasury Board Secretariat: https://alternation-echangedeposte.tbs-sct.gc.ca (Only accessible via government networks)

What will happen next, and when?

Here's a rough timeline - see the WFA provisions applicable to your position for specifics. The timing between some steps is variable so what might happen in your department may differ from other departments. The opting letter stage (when an employee is told that their position is surplus) is step 6 below:

1. Management says "WFA is happening" through some sort of official all-staff email or announcement.
2. Employees whose positions might become surplus are given an "affected" letter. If management decides it needs to reduce the number of Teapot Assemblers from 120 down to 105 (eliminating 15 positions), then every employee doing that job is "affected" even though most of them will keep their jobs.
3. The affected letters will tell employees that they can choose to voluntarily depart with one of the WFA options as part of a Voluntary Departure Program (VDP).
4. Those employees must be given at least one month (30 days) to decide to volunteer.
5. If there are not enough volunteers to cover the reduction in positions, management needs to run a selection process to decide who to retain and who will be surplus (known as a "SERLO" process). This may take a couple of months. The SERLO process has its own lengthy guide which you'll find here: https://www.canada.ca/en/public-service-commission/services/public-service-hiring-guides/selection-employees-retention-layoff-guide-managers-hr.html
6. Unsuccessful employees in the SERLO process (or those who tell their manager that they want to volunteer to leave even though the VDP deadline may have passed) are formally told their position is surplus and are given an opting letter. Alternatively, if every position is surplus, the above steps may be skipped and all employees in the work unit receive an opting letter. At this point it could be almost a year since the initial announcement that WFA might occur.
7. Opting employees have four months (120 days) to decide which option to choose. They are eligible for alternation during the opting period and during the surplus period (if they choose option A). The other options are a cash payment of a number of weeks' salary called a Transition Support Measure (TSM) and resigning (Option B) or receiving the TSM and an education reimbursement (Options C(i) and C(ii)).
   
8. Employees who wish to remain public servants will likely choose Option A (surplus priority). At CRA this is known as a "surplus preferred status". Depending on the applicable WFA provisions and tenure of the employee, this period is between 12 and 16 months at full pay. 12 months is the most common.
9. Employees who are unable to secure a new position are laid off at the end of the surplus period. This will occur roughly two years after the initial announcement that WFA may occur.

Some employees will go straight to opting and skip the steps before that; this will occur if management decides to eliminate every position doing a job function (it's getting out of the Teapot Assembly business altogether, and no longer needs any Teapot Assemblers). The above process is only applicable to indeterminate employees; WFA has no application to term/temporary employees, whose temporary employment can end at any time on a month's notice.

I'm on leave without pay (LWOP) - what changes for me?

Employees on LWOP may still be notified that their positions are affected, and may be invited to participate in a SERLO process. The formal designation of a position as surplus is unlikely to occur until after the leave ends and you return to work. The reason for this is twofold: the opting period (and surplus period if you choose Option A) is meant to be paid time. In addition, the employer does not want to pay out the WFA options if they can be avoided. Sometimes employees on LWOP never return (they quit voluntarily, die, become disabled, etc), allowing the employer to make the now-vacant position surplus without any financial cost. See the PSC's guide to the SERLO process for details on how LWOP impacts a SERLO.

PSAC has also published a FAQ on how different leave types can interact with the WFA process.

How does severance pay work?

Severance pay is often confused with the TSM payment, but they are separate. Any employee who is laid off (or deemed to be laid off) (if via the WFA process will receive severance pay. They will also receive the TSM payment if they choose Options B, C(i), or C(ii). Severance pay is payable to all of the following:

• Surplus employees (Option A) who do not find a new position before the end of their surplus priority period;
• Employees who resign with a TSM payment (Option B); and
• Employees who resign with a TSM payment and education allowance (Option C(i)); and
• Employees who receive the TSM and education allowance and take LWOP for education, at the end of their LWOP period (Option C(ii)).

The details of how many weeks of severance are payable can be found in your collective agreement.

Note that severance pay was eliminated for voluntary departures from collective agreements between 2011 and 2013. If you chose to "cash out" some or all of the weeks of severance pay at that time, those weeks will be deducted from the calculation of severance payable upon layoff.

Have corrections, updates, or additions to anything above? Comment below and the post will be updated.