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Market Adjustment Policy

Policy Statement

Market Adjustments may be approved to address recruitment and retention challenges for officially classified positions that meet the criteria for a market-based adjustment as established by Treasury Board, subject to the approval process as outlined in the Guidelines to Determine, Implement and Evaluate Market Adjustments (Guidelines ).

Application

This policy applies to employees of Government departments, agencies, boards and commissions. For employees who are members of a bargaining unit please refer to the relevant section of the collective agreement since the policy may be limited in its application. This policy shall not apply to Executive positions within Government departments, agencies, boards, and commissions.

Officially classified positions eligible for the adjustment may be permanent, temporary, part-time, or seasonal and include bargaining unit and management employees.

Definitions

Market-Based Adjustment	Any form of additional remuneration, as approved by the Employer, paid to employees of Government departments, agencies, boards and commissions to address recruitment and retention challenges.
Employee	A person employed by a department, agency, board or commission for the purpose of performing certain specified work.
Employer	The Employer shall be the Treasury Board Committee of Cabinet.
Executive position	A position that: is subject to the Executive Compensation Policy and Procedures Manual; is filled by Order of the Lieutenant Governor in Council; or is deemed to be an Executive position of a board, agency or commission, as determined by Legislation or other recognized Authority.
Officially classified position	A position that has been assigned a classification or pay level using an employer-approved job evaluation methodology and rating process.
Labour Market	The availability of labour within the private and/or public sector labour market. A labour market can be defined within a specific geographic area that contains comparator positions. The labour market for each position may vary.

Responsibilities

Departments, Agencies, Boards and Commissions

• Ensure that market adjustments are only requested in exceptional situations and are non-pensionable.
• Demonstrate to the Employer that:
• Non remuneration-based strategies have been employed without success;
• the duties and responsibilities of the position are of critical importance to the operational effectiveness of the organization; and
• the duties and responsibilities of the position cannot be performed through other means (e.g. duties and responsibilities cannot be performed by another employee, assigned to an existing position).
• Provide information related to the position and labour market, including the following:
  • position creation date;
  • recruitment history;
  • vacancy rate;
  • current and relevant labour market data; and
  • cost estimates of implementation.
• Ensure that proposals for market adjustments incorporate a review process, normally conducted on an annual basis.
• Notify affected employees of approved market adjustments and that the Employer retains the right to continue, modify, or discontinue future market adjustments.
• Notify affected employees as soon as possible of the decision to modify or remove a market adjustment.
• Review and report all market adjustments in accordance with this policy.
• Ensure all requests for market adjustments are made in accordance with the Guidelines.

Departments, agencies, boards and commissions are prohibited from paying employees any other form of market adjustment outside the terms of this policy. Additional forms of remuneration, unrelated to market conditions, may be permitted, subject to Treasury Board approval.

Public Service Secretariat (PSS)

• Provide Treasury Board with an analysis of requests for market adjustments.
• Monitor market adjustments, including trends, overall costs, and effectiveness.
• Prepare reports for Treasury Board on the status of approved market adjustments.
• Conduct audits, as appropriate.
• As part of the review process, the PSS may engage private consultants to provide any information it deems essential to complete its analysis.

Duration

The duration of any market adjustment shall be for one calendar year, unless otherwise determined by the Employer.

Implementation

An employee will be entitled to receive a market adjustment in the form of a single non-pensionable payment. Payments will be made during the period of approval as authorized by the Employer. Payments for part-time arrangements shall be pro-rated accordingly.

If the payment is pre-paid (paid at the beginning of the period of approval), the employee will be required to sign a contract of service for that period of approval.

Payments shall not be made on a bi-weekly basis or otherwise incorporated into an employee’s regular salary. The Employer may consider exceptions to the method of payment if circumstances warrant.

Approval

The Employer shall have final authority over any form of market adjustment and when the adjustment is to be paid.

Upon approval of a market adjustment, employees will be notified that the Employer retains the right to continue, modify or discontinue future market adjustments.

General Economic Increases

Market adjustments shall not be subject to general economic increases (GEI’s) awarded by Government.

Date of Payment

Once approved, the employing organization shall pay the adjustment at the earliest possible date.

Moving to New Position in the Organization

If the current position has an approved market adjustment and the employee is moving to a:

(i) New position not subject to market adjustment

If an employee leaves his/her current position for another position in the same organization which does not qualify for a market adjustment, the amount to be paid shall be based on the employee’s time spent in the position that qualifies for a market adjustment.

(ii) New position subject to market adjustment

If an employee leaves his/her current position for another position in the same organization which does qualify for a market adjustment, the amount paid shall be

determined by:

1. The time employed in each position.

2. The amount of the approved market adjustment applicable to both positions.

Employee Leaving Organization

Pre-Payment
If the method of payment for the approved market adjustment is pre-payment and the employee leaves the organization at any time during the period of approval, the employee will be required to reimburse any monies owing on a proportional basis.

Post-payment
If the method of payment for the approved market adjustment is post-payment and the employee leaves the organization at any time before the end of the period of approval, the employee will forfeit the entire approved market adjustment.

Review and Reporting

Unless otherwise approved by the Employer, all market adjustments are subject to periodic review by the relevant Deputy Minister or Chief Executive Officer to assess potential continuance as changes in market conditions may warrant the removal or modification of the market adjustment.

Proposals for market adjustments shall incorporate a review process, normally conducted on an annual basis. Deputy Ministers or Chief Executive Officers, upon the request of Treasury Board, are required to provide the results of their review, including the evidence for their decision to continue, modify, or discontinue a market adjustment.

Deputy Ministers and Chief Executive Officers are required to provide an annual report to the Deputy Minister of the PSS on the status of all market adjustments being paid by their respective organizations. The PSS will specify the information required in the report and audit and verify the information as required.

At any time, the President of Treasury Board may request that the department, agency, board or commission make a resubmission to determine continued eligibility for a market adjustment.

Approved: Feb 26, 2010
Reference: MC2010-0124