Bilingual bonus

The grievor sought reinstatement of linguistic level and the bilingual bonus.

Effective January 12, 1993, the linguistic profile of the grievor's position was raised from BBB/BBA to BBB/BBB, as a result of a departmental review of linguistic requirements of positions. On February 19, 1993, the department issued instructions to the pay office with a copy to the grievor and his supervisor, requesting that the grievor's bilingualism bonus be terminated as of May 1, 1993. The grievor continues to occupy the position and continues to perform his duties in both languages. The grievor's French Second Language Evaluation test results are BAA with an expiry date of February 1 996.

The Executive Committee noted that the report of the Official Languages Committee advised that the issue in this grievance is the bilingualism bonus termination notification, which the department claims to have sent to the grievor on February 19, 1993 and which the grievor claims not to have received. The report also noted that the change in supervisors during the period in question could substantiate why the employee's substantive supervisor claimed not to have been aware of the change in the linguistic profile and why the employee was not informed until he received his cheque in May.

The Executive Committee agreed with the report of the Official Languages Committee in that based on the evidence before the Committee, the members could not conclude that the grievor had been treated within the intent of the Bilingualism Bonus directive as it could not ascertain whether the employee had received a copy of the departmental form dated February 19, 1993.

The Executive Committee further agreed with the report of the Official Languages Committee that, given that the grievor claimed only to have been made aware of the change to the linguistic profile of his position when he received his cheque in May 1993, and that the department could not prove whether the written notification dated February 19, 1993 had been delivered to the grievor, the grievor receive bilingualism bonus payment for two months beyond that period as prescribed in section 3.5.1.

To the extent that the above satisfies the corrective action sought the grievance was upheld.