FPSLREB Decisions

Decision Information

Public Service Alliance of Canada v. Treasury Board (Department of Employment and Social Development)

Collection FPSLREB Decisions
Decision Rendered 2026-02-10
Citation 2026 FPSLREB 13
Before Adrian Bieniasiewicz
Decision Type Labour Relations
Subject Terms Compensation
Day of rest
Overtime
Policy grievance
Rest period
Keywords Labour relations – Policy grievance – Individual grievances – Collective agreement – Interpretation – Overtime – Rest periods – Working day – Day of rest – Holiday – Grammatical and ordinary sense – Health and safety – Compensation – Rate of pay
Original Language English
Note Please note that this decision will be published when it is available in both official languages. If you wish to obtain a copy of the decision in the official language it was written, please communicate with mail.courrier@fpslreb-crtespf.gc.ca.
Summary:

The grievors worked as Service Canada call centre agents. The employer asked employees if they were interested in working overtime on Good Friday, April 10, 2020, and Easter Monday, April 13, 2020, at the call centre, to respond to inquiries about the Canada Emergency Response Benefit. The employer provided instructions to employees who worked overtime on those days on how to enter their time worked in the pay system. They were told to submit a request for only 7 hours, rather than 7.5 hours, on the basis that the two 15-minute rest periods were unpaid. The grievors filed individual grievances, and the bargaining agent filed a policy grievance, alleging that the employer breached the collective agreement by refusing to compensate the employees for the 2 rest periods per full day worked in overtime on days of rest and statutory holidays. The employer submitted that since a “day of rest” or a “holiday” was not considered a regular day of work, employees who worked on such days were not entitled to paid rest periods. The Board interpreted the collective agreement’s relevant provisions in accordance with the applicable rules of interpretation. The parties’ dispute was based on the meaning to be given to the phrase “working day”. Absent a specific definition or restriction of that phrase in the collective agreement, it was to be given its grammatical and ordinary sense. Its ordinary meaning was a day of the week on which work was performed for the benefit of an employer, irrespective of the day of the week on which that work was performed. The Board found that employees were entitled to rest periods regardless of the day on which they worked. The health, safety, and well-being of employees who work overtime on a day of rest or a holiday are equally as important as those of employees who work on a normal workday. The overtime provisions did not bar entitlement to paid rest periods, but overtime compensation for work performed on a day of rest applied only to periods that were “worked”. Therefore, rest periods were to be compensated at the regular rate of pay.

Policy grievance allowed in part.

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