When pursuing a grievance or bringing a complaint before the Board, there are often many deadlines to observe. For example, in the case of a complaint, the Federal Public Sector Labour Relations Act (FPSLRA) stipulates that it must be presented to the Board not later than 90 days after the event that gave rise to it.

Calculating time for these deadlines can be tricky, and the method of doing so varies depending on the applicable legislation.

The Board provides adjudication services to the federal public service pursuant to the FPSLRA. The Board also provides adjudication services to the parliamentary service (the Senate, the House of Commons, the Library of Parliament, the Office of the Senate Ethics Officer, and the Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner), pursuant to the Parliamentary Employment and Staff Relations Act (PESRA). Deadlines are calculated differently within each adjudication system.

Calculating time for matters relating to labour relations within the federal public service

When determining the date by which something must be done (for example, the date by which a grievance must be referred to adjudication), the day from which that deadline is calculated is not included, whereas Saturdays, Sundays, and other holidays are. If a given deadline falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or other holiday, the deadline then becomes the next weekday that is not a holiday (sections 9 and 10 of the Federal Public Sector Labour Relations Regulations).

For a better understanding, consider the following example.

If the Federal Public Sector Labour Relations Regulations require that something be done within 25 days, then the following would be true:

Date of the event from which the deadline is calculated:	1st day to count	25th day counted	Deadline date
Tuesday, March 3, 2020	Wednesday, March 4, 2020	Saturday, March 28, 2020	Monday, March 30, 2020

Calculating time for matters within the parliamentary service

As with the federal public service, the day from which time is calculated is not included when counting days. However, contrary to the federal public service context, Saturdays, Sundays, and other holidays are NOT included when calculating deadlines. In other words, when calculating a deadline, only business days are counted (subsection 2(2) of the Parliamentary Employment and Staff Relations Regulations).

For a better understanding, consider the following example.

If the Parliamentary Employment and Staff Relations Regulations require that something be done within 25 days, the following would be true:

Date of the event from which the deadline is calculated:	1st day to count	Deadline date
Tuesday, March 3, 2020	Wednesday, March 4, 2020	Tuesday, April 7, 2020 by 4:00 p.m. Ottawa time

For more information…

Please consult:

• The Interpretation Act, sections 26 to 30, for information of general application on calculating time where not otherwise prescribed in other statutory instruments, and subsection 35(1), for the definition of holiday.