PSAC and Human Rights Commission agree:
Federal classification plan problems can be fixed

OTTAWA - A Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC) report reviewing the federal government’s Universal Classification Standard (UCS) concludes that UCS is a "workable alternative" to the existing classification system and echoes concerns already raised by the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC).

"While the CHRC report identifies some problems with the quality of work descriptions, the design of UCS and the gender neutrality of the plan, it also makes a number of recommendations which can resolve these problems," according to Nycole Turmel, PSAC national president.

"For example, an analysis by the CHRC of the preliminary UCS data indicates that there may be a problem of gender bias since female-dominated jobs tend to carry lower ratings in all of the 16 UCS elements than do male-dominated jobs. In addition, tight deadlines may have had a negative impact on the quality of work descriptions."

"PSAC has already raised many of the concerns in the Commission’s report," says Turmel. "We also made similar suggestions when asked by the Office of the Auditor General to outline what we believe to be essential to the success of the new classification plan."

In order to fix the identified problems, CHRC recommends that the government pay more attention to the content and quality of work descriptions, examine alternative weighting models and point progressions, continue the testing and review of the UCS before it’s implemented, establish a monitoring framework and conduct annual monitoring once UCS is implemented, and that Treasury Board take a more active role in guiding departments.

"If the government heeds the advice of the CHRC and the Auditor General’s office, UCS should be a significant improvement over the existing system," declares John Gordon, PSAC national executive vice-president. "Using a single yardstick to measure jobs removes artificial distinctions between jobs and reveals the nature of the actual work.

"Analysis of available UCS data illustrates that many similar, if not identical, jobs have been classified and paid quite differently. This leads us to believe that the problems of inconsistency and inequality in the current system may be even more widespread than previously imagined. However these are problems which can be corrected, if the government wishes to do so."

The CHRC issues periodic reports to PSAC and Treasury Board as part of a monitoring role it has assumed with respect to the development of the government’s gender-neutral classification plan. The Commission’s role arises from a 1984 complaint filed by the PSAC alleging that the existing classification system - which remains in place today - is in contravention of the Canadian Human Rights Act because it applies different standards to measure the value of employees’ jobs. This complaint also alleged that employees in the Clerical and Regulatory (CR) group were not receiving equal pay for equal value. The pay equity portion of the complaint was finally resolved in 1999. The classification portion of the complaint remains outstanding.

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For information:
Nycole Turmel, national president, PSAC - (613) 560-4330
John Gordon, national executive vice-president, PSAC - (613) 560-4310

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