Rescinded [2017-04-01] - Directive on Financial Management of Pay Administration

6.1.1 Developing, in conjunction with senior human resources management, efficient and effective departmental accounting and controls;

6.1.2 Ensuring that the verification of pay input data by financial management personnel does not duplicate the work performed by human resources personnel;

6.1.3 Verifying that all persons with delegated signing authorities for pay transactions have successfully completed required training and understand the responsibilities associated with the delegated authority;

6.1.4 Providing functional direction to persons who are responsible for cheque and direct deposit payment statement distribution;

6.1.5 Ensuring that the controls relating to all pay administration are identified, understood and applied;

6.1.6 Ensuring the proper administration of sections 33 and 34 of the Financial Administration Act for all pay administration disbursements;

6.1.7 Ensuring effective controls (e.g. accuracy, completeness, timeliness, authorization) are in place for all processes and systems that support pay administration, and;

6.1.8 Ensuring that adequate segregation of duties, such as ensuring the custody and distribution of cheques and direct deposit payment statements, is performed by a person who does not have signing authority in the areas of staffing, classification, or pay input transactions.

6.2.1 Establishing and maintaining internal procedures and adequate documentation to administer agreements that may provide for salary expenses, including allowances and employer-paid benefits to be reimbursed in a timely manner by the host organization for employees on secondment or for persons on an interchange assignment to or from an outside organization; and

6.2.2 Establishing, in collaboration with Human Resources, a departure procedure to ensure that all money or any other material issued by the host organization to a person on secondment or on an interchange agreement is recovered or accounted for when the person returns to the home organization;

Chief Financial Officers and Heads of Human Resources are jointly responsible for:

6.3.1 Establishing and maintaining the departmental process for timely and accurate garnishment from salaries payable to employees and fees owing to personal services contractors and remittance to the Courts and the provincial and territorial maintenance enforcement programs in compliance with the Garnishment, Attachment and Pension Diversion Act, the associated regulations and relevant provincial or territorial laws; and

Chief Financial Officers are responsible for:

6.3.2 Ensuring that financial officers who administer payment requisitions are aware of their responsibilities for processing garnishments in a timely and accurate manner consistent with the Garnishment, Attachment and Pension Diversion Act, and its regulations and relevant provincial or territorial laws as well as the Receiver General Guidelines on Garnishment, Garnishment of public servant's salaries and monies owing to individuals employed under contracts for services; and

Heads of Human Resources are responsible for:

6.3.3 Ensuring that human resources personnel in the garnishment process, including individuals delegated as contacts with the Department of Justice, are aware of their responsibilities and process garnishments in a timely and accurate manner consistent with the Garnishment, Attachment and Pension Diversion Act, the associated regulations and relevant provincial or territorial laws as well as the Office of Chief Human Resources Officer Guidelines for the Processing of Garnishments.

6.4.1 Establishing and maintaining adequate record-keeping to meet the requirements of the Income Tax Act and provincial or territorial income tax acts for filing information returns with respect to allowances and other taxable benefits paid in addition to basic pay;

6.5.1 Ensuring the recovery of any salary replacement from other sources, such as the workers' compensation board, when an employee has been injured and in rare instances due to administrative error the employee was also receiving full salary during the predetermined period as established by the employer;

6.5.2 Ensuring that recovery is not made when the salary replacement stems from a personal disability policy for which the employee or the employee's agent has paid the premium; and

6.5.3 In consultation with PWGSC Compensation Sector, ensuring the appropriate provincial or territorial legislation is applied to determine whether employment-injury benefits received from the workers' compensation board are taxable and consulting the Injury-on-Duty Leave policy and Workers' Compensation policy for additional guidance concerning workers' compensation and injury-on-duty leave;

6.6.1 Establishing, in collaboration with Human Resources, a departure report and checklist process to sign off and certify that all money owing to the Crown, or any other material, is accounted for before an employee leaves the department, which:

• Ensures the return of outstanding accountable advances on loan such as travel advances, standing advances, emergency salary advances, petty cash funds, and change floats; acquisition cards; travel cards; identity cards; overdrawn leave; and equipment, tools, and manuals. This list is not exhaustive and may include other items;
• Includes sign off by such areas as human resources, security, materiel management, administration, library, and financial services. This list is not exhaustive and may include other areas within organizations; and
• Ensures that financial management personnel or, if applicable, the organization to which payment authority under section 33 of the Financial Administration Act is delegated is the last to sign off; and

6.6.2 Ensuring that when a departing employee owes money or has not accounted for other materials a process is put in place to inform Compensation in order that a deduction can be made from any amounts due to the employee or, if necessary, that an account receivable is established and recovery action taken.

6.7.1 Chief financial officers are responsible for supporting their deputy head by overseeing the implementation and monitoring of this directive in their departments; bringing to the deputy head's attention any significant difficulties, gaps in performance, or compliance issues and developing proposals to address them; and reporting significant performance or compliance issues to the Office of the Comptroller General.

6.7.2 Chief Financial Officers in conjunction with Heads of Human Resources will monitor compliance with the Garnishment, Attachment and Pension Diversion Act, the associated regulations and relevant provincial or territorial laws and ensure that any undue delays are remedied in a manner to prevent their recurrence.

6.7.3 The Comptroller General is responsible for monitoring departments' compliance with the requirements of this directive and conducting a review within five to eight years.