PSAC Pay Equity

August 25, 2004

PSAC separate employers pay equity claim faces further delays

The PSAC's Statement of Claim on behalf of our current and former members working for a number of separate employers has been delayed again.  

The revised timetable for the case, established earlier this year, should have seen the Discovery phase completed by June 30 th .   However, just when it should have been wrapping up, the government advised that the Privy Council would be releasing over 300 additional documents related to the case.  

These documents, which were to be provided within several weeks of the news of their release, have yet to be received by the union.   And, there is no indication to date as to when they will be available.  

This means that the deadline for the Discovery phase will now be moved into the fall and the schedule as a whole will be moved back.   Originally, motions arising out of the discovery process were to be filed by September 30 th .   Obviously, this will no longer be possible since the latest documents have yet to be seen and reviewed.   Since all of this must happen before the hearing of the case can be scheduled, we will not see a Court date before 2005.

The Statement of Claim was filed in November 2000.   The case has been repeatedly delayed due to government tactics, including a series of unsuccessful legal challenges to have the case dismissed.   The separate employers included in the complaint and the Statement of Claim, under Part II of the PSSRA, are the Auditor General, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, the Communications Security Establishment, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions, Statistical Survey Operations and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (formerly the Medical Research Council).

PSAC will continue to provide updates on the progress of this case as developments occur.