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Ombudsperson calls on Government to address mismanagement
Awarding temporary public service jobs to 64 ineligible people over a 10-year period represents systemic mismanagement and wrongdoing by BC’s Public Service Agency, Ombudsperson Jay Chalke said today.
In a public report delivered under the Public Interest Disclosure Act, BC’s whistleblowing legislation, Chalke said his office’s investigation showed this practice had a variety of negative effects. Not only did career public servants lose out on opportunities to advance their careers, it undermined the public service’s commitment to employee development. As well, systemic acceptance of a policy breach tarnishes the BC government’s reputation as a fair and principled employer, he said.
“Order in Council appointees successfully applied for internal ministry temporary assignment positions even though they were not eligible. While the Public Service Agency has a policy to prevent OIC appointees from applying for and being appointed to these jobs, that policy was not being followed,” Chalke said.
Examples of staff Order in Council (OIC) appointees include board and tribunal members, ministerial assistants and government communications staff. OIC appointments may be made without a competitive hiring process, unlike BC public service hirings. The PSA’s policy excludes OIC appointees and expressly states that temporary assignments (TAs) are career development opportunities for BC public service staff hired through a competitive process.
The Ombudsperson investigation report, Hire Power: The appointment of ineligible candidates to public service temporary assignments, found the software government used to receive applications for temporary assignment was not configured to detect or exclude OIC appointees from applying for TAs. Between 2013 to 2023, 205 OICs applied for internal temporary assignments, and 64 were successful in moving into TAs.
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Source: The British Columbia Ombudsperson, Canada
