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Delegation Questions and Answer

(Amended on October 22, 2008.)

Specific Authorities

Q. Is a complete list of delegated appointment and appointment-related authorities under the Public Service Employment Act¹ (PSEA) available electronically?

A. Yes, the complete list of appointment and appointment-related authorities is available on the Web site of the Public Service Commission (PSC).

Q. Does the Public Service Employment Act¹ (PSEA) itself confer any authorities directly to the deputy head?

Yes, it confers directly to deputy heads the following authorities:

to establish merit criteria;
to make deployments;
to extend term employment;
to terminate the employment of employees on probation;
to accept resignations; and
to lay off employees.

Q. What authorities are not delegated?

The Public Service Commission (PSC) retains the following authorities:

under the Public Service Employment Act¹ (PSEA)
- to confirm whether former ministers’ staff meet the criteria set out in section 35.2 of the PSEA and may thus, during a period of one year after ceasing to be so employed, participate in internal advertised processes;
- to establish appointment policies for the public service (Note: this does not restrict deputy heads from establishing departmental policies); and
- to revoke an appointment, not make an appointment, or take corrective action further to investigations conducted pursuant to the PSEA, paragraphs 66(a) and (b) - external appointments; 67(1)(a) and (b) - non-delegated internal appointments; 68(a) and (b) - political influence; and 69(a) and (b) - fraud.
under the Public Service Employment Regulations² (PSER)
- to determine whether a person in an excluded position in the Office of the Secretary of the Governor General is entitled to a priority; and
- to appoint a priority from the Office of the Secretary of the Governor General to the EX Group.
under the Public Service Official Languages Appointment Regulations² (PSOLAR)
- to exempt a person, on medical grounds, from having to meet language requirements in non-imperative appointments.

Pursuant to subsection 15(1) of the PSEA, the PSC cannot delegate the following authorities:

to conduct audits on any matter within the PSC's jurisdiction and on the way deputy heads exercise their appointment and appointment-related authorities (Note: this does not prohibit deputy heads from auditing their departmental practices and the way sub-delegated officials exercise their authorities.);
to establish exclusions from the PSEA;
to make regulations;
to investigate any external appointment process;
to investigate non-delegated internal appointment processes;
to investigate an internal appointment process at the request of a deputy head;
to investigate whenever it has reason to believe that an appointment, or a proposed appointment, is not free of political influence;
to investigate whenever it has reason to believe that fraud may have occurred in an appointment process; and
to administer the provisions of the PSEA, Part 7, sections 111 to 122, governing the political activities of employees.

Q. Why are deputy heads not delegated the authority to investigate external appointment processes if they are delegated the authority to make appointments from outside the public service under the Public Service Employment Act¹ (PSEA)?

A. Subsection 15(1) of the PSEA specifies that some authorities cannot be delegated. Among these is the authority to investigate external appointment processes.

Q. Can deputy heads establish programs within their organization, such as employment equity programs and professional development and apprenticeship programs?

A. Deputy heads may use their delegated authorities to establish programs within their own organization. In doing so, deputy heads will need to respect the core appointment values (merit and non-partisanship) and the guiding values (fairness, access, transparency and representativeness), the provisions of the Public Service Employment Act¹ (PSEA) and other relevant statutory instruments, as well as central agency policies and standards. Deputy heads may sub-delegate this authority.

Q. Do special conditions or limitations apply to appointments to and within the EX Group?

A. Yes. The Public Service Commission (PSC) retains the authority to appoint, to the EX Group, priorities from the Office of the Secretary of the Governor General.

All external advertised processes must use a national area of selection.

The employer's EX Qualification Standard (which includes educational requirements) must be applied in appointments to and within the EX Group, at all levels, regardless of the appointment process.

As stipulated in the PSC's Assessment Policy, deputy heads must assess qualifications for appointment to or within the EX group:

with a structured interview and a structured reference check, and;
with any additional assessment tools necessary to provide clear evidence for appointment decisions (such as SELEX);

OR
obtain approval from the PSC for exceptions to the EX assessment requirements on a case-by-case basis, except for acting EX appointments over four months.

For acting EX appointments over four months, the acceptable alternative to the structured interview and structured reference check is a narrative assessment that:

assesses all of the merit criteria for the position, including the Key Leadership Competencies;
uses concrete behavioural examples; and
is signed by the hiring manager or another manager who is sufficiently familiar with the applicant's performance and accomplishments to attest to the accuracy of the information provided.

Deputy heads who are extending an EX acting appointment may use a written narrative assessment instead of a structured interview and a structured reference check without having to request PSC approval for an exception to the EX assessment requirements.

Deputy heads must establish EX assessment boards comprised of members at, or equivalent to, a level above the position being staffed, as well as other parties as necessary for a comprehensive assessment. HR specialists may assist EX assessment boards in an advisory capacity.

The deputy head may not sub-delegate the authority to extend the two-year period referred to in an agreement to become bilingual, for positions in the EX Group.

The PSC retains the authority to approve an exclusion from meeting official language proficiency requirements on medical grounds.

1. PSEA 2003, c. 22, ss. 12, 13. This Act came into force on December 31, 2005.
2. PSER, SOR/2005-334. These Regulations came into force on December 31, 2005.
3. PSOLAR, SOR/2005-347. These Regulations came into force on December 31, 2005.

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Date Modified:: 2009-02-16

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