Article 1 - Definition of terms

1.01 Employee

Means any person included in the bargaining unit who works for the Employer in return for remuneration.

An employee has one of the job statuses defined in clauses 1.02, 1.03 or 1.04.

An employee who temporarily holds a position outside the bargaining unit continues to be covered by the collective agreement. However, the Employer’s decision to return that employee to their regular position cannot be grieved.

1.02 Full-time employee

An employee who holds a position with a number of hours corresponding to what is stipulated for their job title.

Employees on the availability list who have a full-time assignment scheduled to last for six (6) months or more are deemed to be full-time employees for this period. The parties may agree otherwise in local arrangements.

1.03 Part-time employee

An employee who holds a position with fewer hours than the number stipulated for their job title.

A part-time employee who occasionally works the total number of hours stipulated for their job title continues to have part-time status.

1.04 Employee who does not hold a position

An employee who is registered on an availability list without holding a position.

1.05 Probationary employee

All new employees are subject to a probation period, the terms and duration of which are negotiated and agreed upon at the local level. During this period, they are entitled to all the benefits of this collective agreement. In the event of dismissal, however, they do not have the right to use the grievance procedure.

1.06 Basic salary

The remuneration to which an employee is entitled according to the employee’s echelon on the salary scale for their job title, as set out in the List of job titles, job descriptions and salary rates and scales in the health and social services system. The List of job titles is described in clause 9.07 of this collective agreement.

1.07 Salary, regular salary

The basic salary, to which are added, where applicable, premiums, supplements and the additional remuneration provided for in Article 17 and Appendix 1.

1.08 Day

Unless stipulated otherwise in this agreement, the word “day” means a calendar day.

1.09 Promotion

Means the transfer of an employee to a position with more responsibilities and a higher salary.

1.10 Transfer

Means a transfer at the employee’s request to a position with comparable responsibilities and an identical salary.

1.11 Demotion

Means the transfer of an employee to a position with fewer responsibilities and a lower salary. Demotion cannot be a disciplinary measure unless, like a suspension, it is for a defined length of time.

1.12 Positions

When the concept of position is used, its definition is the one negotiated and agreed upon at the local level.

During an initiation and trial period, employees who decide to return to their former position, or who are required to do so by the Employer, do so without prejudice to the rights they had acquired in that position; employees who do not have a position and who decide to return to the availability list or who are required to do so by the Employer do so without prejudice to their acquired rights on that list.

Employees who hold a position must resume work in that position when returning from an absence provided for in the collective agreement, unless it is an absence that does not entitle them to resume work in their position upon returning.

1.13 Position temporarily without an incumbent

When the concept of a position temporarily without an incumbent is used, its definition is the one negotiated and agreed upon at the local level.

1.14 Availability list

When the concept of an availability list is used, its definition is the one negotiated and agreed upon at the local level.

1.15 Displacement

When the concept of displacement is used, its definition is the one negotiated and agreed upon at the local level.

1.16 Activity centre

When the concept of activity centre is used, its definition is the one negotiated and agreed upon at the local level.

1.17 Accounting period

The fiscal year for health and social services institutions is divided into thirteen (13) periods of twenty-eight (28) days each, except for the first and last periods. The first accounting period in the fiscal year starts on April 1 and the last one ends on March 31.

1.18 Union

The word Union designates the Alliance du personnel professionnel et technique de la santé et des services sociaux (APTS).

1.19 Spouse

Spouses mean persons:

• a) who are married and living together;
• b) who are in a civil union and living together;
• c) of the same or opposite sex who are living as if they were married and are father and mother of the same child;
• d) of the same or opposite sex who have been living as if they were married for at least one (1) year.

Dependent child

A child of an employee or their spouse, or of both, who is neither married nor in a civil union and resides or is domiciled in Canada, who is dependent on the employee for support and meets one of the following conditions:

• is less than eighteen (18) years old;
• is twenty-five (25) years old or less and attends a recognized educational institution as a duly registered full-time student;
• became totally disabled at a time when they met one of the above conditions and has remained continuously disabled since that time, regardless of their age.