The Treasury Board has responded to our request for a clear definition of “critical work”.



“A critical service is one that, if disrupted, would result in a high or very high degree of injury to the health, safety, security or economic well-being of Canadians, or to the effective functioning of the Government of Canada.”



All departments are required by the Treasury Board to identify their respective critical services and related supporting resources. If a department’s current list of critical services is not up to date, the Treasury Board has requested that it be revised to identify redundancy for the highest demand jobs, to account for possible absences or to prevent burnout of staff should the situation persist.



“Essential service” refers to the positions that must continue to provide service during strike activity. This does not relate to our current crises.



At this time, all non-critical public servants should be working from home as an urgent action to slow the spread of COVID-19. The Treasury Board will reassess this directive on April 10, 2020.



In cases where working remotely is not at all possible, non-critical employees will be eligible for “other leave with pay” (code 699).



If you are being required to work from your workplace and you do not believe your work is officially deemed critical please contact us now.



For more information on COVID-19 for PIPSC members visit our FAQs.