As a quasi-judicial tribunal, the Federal Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board (FPSLREB) renders decisions on grievances, complaints and labour relations matters before it. We are committed to providing parties to cases with respectful, efficient, courteous and timely service that is impartial at all times.

This means that we provide information in an unbiased and neutral fashion and we do not advocate in any manner for individual employees, bargaining agents, or employers. The FPSLREB does not pay the legal costs of either side in a dispute.

If you are thinking about referring a grievance to adjudication or filing a complaint, we strongly suggest that you seek the advice of your bargaining agent or a private practice lawyer before commencing.

An officer from the FPSLREB's labour relations registry will be assigned to each case.

If you are represented by your bargaining agent, private counsel or another individual acting on your behalf, the FPSLREB's registry will not communicate directly with you, but will communicate with that representative in all matters pertaining to your grievance or complaint. Therefore please direct any questions you may have to your representative.

If you are representing yourself, until your case is heard, the only contact you will have is with FPSLREB employees. Therefore, it is important to understand what our employees can and cannot do to help you.

Our employees will be pleased to help you by:

• telling you what forms you may need to use
• giving you blank copies of forms or directing you to where they can be found online
• briefly explaining how we work and answering questions about our practices and procedures
• giving you basic information about mediation, applications, complaints, grievances or hearings
• giving you general information about how your case is proceeding and describing what is involved in each step of the process of having your case heard
• explaining how to get a case set down for hearing
• providing information about the availability of interpretation services.

Our employees cannot:

• give you advice of any nature
• give you legal advice nor recommend the name of any lawyer to act on your behalf
• advise you as to which tribunal to initiate your proceeding before, should there be a choice
• interpret any portion of a collective agreement, arbitral award, or any jurisprudence or policies which may apply to you
• tell you what words to use in your documents
• tell you whether you have included enough information in your documents
• tell you what to say at a hearing or how to make your legal arguments or written submissions
• tell you what the decision in your case will be or give you any opinion about what it might be
• interpret orders made by the FPSLREB, or the Chairperson
• change an order that has been made by the FPSLREB, or the Chairperson
• allow you to communicate directly with the Chairperson, or a FPSLREB member at any time, other than at a pre-hearing conference or at your hearing.