Executive Economic Increases: FAQs

The economic increases to base pay for executives and certain other senior levels are as follows:

• 2.8% effective April 1, 2018;
• 2.2% effective April 1, 2019;
• 1.5% effective April 1, 2020; and
• 1.5% effective April 1, 2021.

Executives who are eligible for the salary revisions are those who were part of the Executive (EX) Group and the Defence Scientific Service sub-group (DS levels 7A, 7B and 8) or employees who were appointed to act in one of these positions in the Core Public Administration between April 1, 2018 and March 31, 2022.

Note that executives are not eligible for the salary revision for a fiscal year if they obtained a performance rating of ‘Did Not Meet (Level 1)’ for that year’s performance cycle.

The new rates of pay have been posted on the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat website.

Treasury Board policies do not specify a timeframe for payment of amounts resulting from salary revisions for executives.

The economic increases will be implemented according to the phases outlined below. For organizations not served by the Public Service Pay Centre, completion timelines may vary given different client populations and workloads. Updates will be provided as implementation progresses.

Phase 1: 2021–22 performance pay cycle

The 2021–22 performance pay cycle has already begun and is expected to be completed by the end of the calendar year (December 2022).
Note that the 2021-2022 cycle was begun before the new rates were announced and will be completed using the old rates.

Phase 2: Implementation of new salary rates

As the 2021–22 performance pay project is completed, the next phase will be to update salary rates on a go-forward basis. Pay Centre clients can expect this work to begin in fall 2022 and to be completed by the end of the current fiscal year.
Note that the new rates of pay for executives were uploaded to Phoenix in May 2022. All executives appointed after May 2022 will be appointed using the new rates of pay.

Phase 3: Retroactive payments

The final phase will focus on processing retroactive payments for executives. This phase will begin in 2023. Priority will be given to active executives, followed by retired executives and then employees who acted in executive positions during the retroactive periods. This phase is expected to be completed by the end of 2023–24.

For a complete list of departments served by the Public Service Pay Centre, please visit: Department and agencies served by the Public Service Pay Centre.

The salary for each of the four fiscal years between April 1, 2018, and March 31, 2022, will be revised and the adjustments will be calculated as if the salary revisions had been approved on the effective dates. The retroactive payments will be based on the amount of time spent in an Executive (EX) Group position or in a DS-07A, DS-07B or DS-08 position during each of the four years.

Note that retroactive to April 1, 2018, executive salaries are now rounded to the nearest dollar.

Yes, since in-range salary movement and performance pay are calculated as a percentage of salary, they will be recalculated based on your revised salary for each of the four cycles.

Employment income is based on amounts you are paid and receive in a calendar year, regardless of when the work was performed. Therefore, amounts paid to you in 2022 or 2023 will be reported on your 2022 or 2023 tax slips even if they relate to periods covering 2018-2021. Amended tax slips will not be issued for the previous years.

If you are or were an executive employed within the CPA (i.e. your home organization was in the CPA) who was on an Interchange Canada assignment you are eligible for the salary revision for the time you were in this position. However, if you are on an Interchange Canada assignment from outside the CPA (i.e. your host, but not home organization is in the CPA), you are not eligible for these increases unless they also are being applied by your home organization.

Yes, you are eligible for salary revisions for the period covered by your casual employment.

Yes, you are eligible for salary revisions. You will receive retroactive payments for periods worked for which salary revisions apply.

Salary protection is provided when an executive’s position is reclassified to a group and/or level with a lower salary range maximum.
Your salary will be revised based on the increases applicable to your former group and level. Your salary protection will continue as long as you occupy the lower-level position or until the salary maximum for the lower-level position matches or exceeds the salary maximum of your former group and level.

Salary maintenance is provided when:

• The salary of an executive who is declared surplus under the Directive on Terms and Conditions of Employment for Executives and appointed to a lower-level position exceeds the salary maximum of this lower-level position; or
• The salary of a non-executive employee exceeds the salary maximum of the executive position to which he or she is appointed.

Scenario 1:

If you were an eligible executive (EX or DS-07A, 07B or 08) appointed to a lower-level executive position between April 1, 2018 and March 31, 2022, your salary will be revised for the time worked in the former higher level executive position. Your “new” salary will be maintained until it falls within the salary range of the lower-level position.
If your maintained salary still exceeds the revised maximum of the lower-level executive position, you will receive the amount of the revision to the salary maximum of the lower-level position for the period covered by the revisions. Successive revisions are not compounded.

Scenario 2:

If you were an eligible executive (EX or DS-07A, 07B or 08) appointed to a lower-level position that is not within the executive cadre between April 1, 2018 and March 31, 2022, your salary will be revised for the time worked in an executive position during the retroactive period. Your “new” salary will be maintained until it falls within the salary range of the non-executive position. You are not eligible for these revisions for any period after the effective date of your appointment to the non-executive position.

Scenario 3:

If you were a non-executive employee appointed to an eligible executive position (EX or DS-07A, 07B or 08) between April 1, 2018 and March 31, 2022, and your maintained salary exceeds the revised maximum of the executive position, you will receive the amount of the revision to the salary maximum of the executive position for the time worked in that position during the period covered by the revisions. Successive revisions are not compounded.

Yes, if you were appointed (including acting appointments) or deployed to an executive position during the period covered by these revisions, your salary will be recalculated.

Yes, please refer to question 13 regarding salary maintenance.

The adjustments will be calculated as if the salary revisions had been approved on the effective dates. Therefore, the value of the cashed-out leave will be recalculated.

Adjustments will be calculated if the salary revisions pre-date the end of the executive’s elimination period. Where applicable, the value of the disability payments will be recalculated and the executive will be paid any monies owing.

The adjustments will be calculated as if the salary revisions had been approved on the effective dates. Therefore, the value of maternity/parental leave top up payments will be recalculated.

OCHRO will inform the executive community once the Government approves economic increases for executives for 2022-2023 and beyond.

This information can be found through your Self-Service’s, Payroll and Compensation section in the Phoenix pay system.

You should first use the Phoenix Self Service feature to review all information on any retroactive payments, dating back to the announcement of the increase in base pay. If the retroactive pay seems incorrect and your organization is served by the Public Service Pay Centre, you should complete a Phoenix feedback form or contact the pay centre at 1-855-686-4729. If you are in an organization with internal pay services, you should contact your compensation advisor/unit.

Once the retroactive adjustment amounts are paid, the pay file will be updated, and this information will be transferred to the Government of Canada Pension Centre. The pension payments made for the corresponding period will be re-calculated and adjusted. If an executive is planning to retire shortly, the pension will be adjusted once the Government of Canada Pension Centre receives the updated salary history.

No, the adjustments to pensions are handled separately.

Former executives who ended their employment in a department served by the Public Service Pay Centre can contact the Client Contact Centre:

• In Canada or the United States: 1-855-686-4729
• Outside Canada and the United States: 1-506-424-4330
• Hours of operation: Monday to Friday (excluding statutory holidays), 7 am to 7 pm ET.

Former executives whose organization is not served by the Pay Centre may contact their former organization.

If direct deposit accounts are still active in the Phoenix pay system, the payment will be processed to that bank account. Executives who have changed their banking information should notify their previous compensation unit or the Pay Centre.

If your direct deposit account is inactive, you will receive a paper cheque to the home mailing address on file. Please advise the Pay Centre or your former department of any changes to the mailing address.

Yes, severance payments will be adjusted. Retroactive remuneration is paid in an amount equal to what would have been paid to the executive had the revision been approved on the effective date.