Members have expressed concerns about the length of time being taken to reactivate appeals that were placed on hold in the spring of 2020. The hold was due to a backlog of appeals dating back to 2011. At that time, after a period of trying to manage these older appeals as well as those being newly filed, both parties agreed to concentrate on the older appeals out of fairness to the appellants who have been waiting a very long time. We recognize this has now resulted in another backlog of newer files.

The Union's classifications department will be hosting two zoom information sessions in the coming weeks to discuss the current status of appeals.

Members with current appeals that are waiting for on-sites to be set have been sent an email with zoom credentials.

Please note that participants will be muted upon entry and the chat function will be disabled during these sessions to ensure everyone has an opportunity to listen to the presentations. There will be time to ask questions during the sessions and participants will be asked to use the raise hand function on zoom should they wish to ask a question.

Zoom sessions will be held over the typical lunch hour period of 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. to ensure maximum attendance. If you feel this will impede on your scheduled work time, provide your supervisor with reasonable notice that you need time away from your desk to address matters related to your classification appeal.

If you are new to using Zoom, we encourage you to learn more about Zoom well in advance. If you access the meeting online, you will have the option of seeing whoever is speaking (if they have a webcam enabled) and the option of being seen. If your computer is not equipped with a webcam, speakers and microphone or if you have difficultly joining the meeting online, then the teleconference option may be best.

Information for those retiring or potentially leaving their position:

Appeals continue even if an appellant leaves the positon, and therefore, if you have left or will be leaving the BC Public Service (including retiring), we need your personal contact information to share with the PSA in order to action retroactive pay, should you be eligible at the conclusion of the appeal.

Please keep the BCGEU up to date with your personal (home) email and phone information at [email protected].

If you retire or move to another position before your appeal is heard:

• Consider setting aside work examples that will demonstrate the highest level of complexity of your work. The best work examples will be narrative examples that are detailed, specific, practical and relevant to important aspects of your work under appeal.
  
  
• If you think you will need to refer to examples involving actual emails, reports etc., consider sending these in advance to [email protected] for us to access during the appeal, although we will be asking for specific information once we begin work on your appeal.

In solidarity,

Classification Appeals

UWU/MoveUP