New Rules for Locally Engaged Staff

Summary#

This is a proposed set of rules called the Locally Engaged Staff Employment Regulations, 2023 published on June 10, 2023. If adopted, they would update how Canada hires and manages people employed overseas to support Canadian diplomatic missions and military support units, and they are open for public comment for 30 days.

What it does#

• Replaces the old rules that cover people hired outside Canada to work for Canadian missions and military support units.
• Gives the deputy heads of Global Affairs Canada and the Department of National Defence, or their delegates, clearer authority to hire, set qualifications, and decide how to assess candidates.
• Lets hiring be done without a competitive process when appropriate, as long as appointments are made on the basis of merit.
• Allows short-term hires of up to 125 working days in a calendar year to meet immediate needs.
• Adds written rules for ending employment:
  • lay-offs require written notice at least one month or whatever longer period local law requires;
  • employees can resign by giving notice consistent with local law.
• Removes some provisions from the old rules (for example, oaths and a priority rule for recalled employees) because they did not fit well with work outside Canada.
• Requires the deputy heads to monitor how the rules are followed and to report results to the Public Service Commission of Canada within three years of the rules coming into force and at least every five years after that.
• Keeps the overall exclusion of these staff from the main Public Service Employment Act, but creates these separate regulations and a supporting exclusion order.

Who's affected#

• Locally hired workers at Canadian diplomatic and consular missions and foreign military support units.
• Specifically, the departments named are Global Affairs Canada (which manages over 5,000 locally engaged staff) and the Department of National Defence (which manages over 100 locally engaged staff).
• Managers and HR staff in those departments who recruit, supervise or end the employment of these workers.
• It’s not aimed at Canadian-based federal employees or Canadian businesses. If anything is unclear about who is affected, the notice does not say more.

Why it matters#

• It aims to make hiring and staffing abroad simpler and more flexible while keeping merit as the core principle.
• The temporary hire rule makes it easier to fill short-term gaps quickly at missions overseas.
• Reporting requirements give the Public Service Commission of Canada a way to monitor how these hires are made and whether the new rules work.
• The government estimates the net cost of the change is small — under $1 million a year — and expects most costs to be internal (policy updates and staff training).
• This is a proposal, not final law; people had 30 days from publication to comment.