Assessment board’s inappropriate actions led to candidate’s elimination – Founded

Authority

This investigation was conducted under section 66 of the Public Service Employment Act, S.C. 2003, c.22, ss. 12 and 13.

Issue

The purpose of the investigation was to determine whether an error, omission or improper conduct affected a candidate’s assessment results in an external advertised appointment process.

Conclusion

The investigation concluded that the assessment board responsible for this appointment process committed improper conduct when they eliminated a candidate. This improper conduct also affected the selection of the person appointed or selected for appointment.

Facts

A candidate in an external advertised appointment process was informed by email that they were screened in and were invited to write an exam. The candidate confirmed their interest and asked to write the exam in their city of residence. The candidate made repeated attempts to obtain information from the board about their exam date and location. The board provided little information to the candidate, no dates, times or location, or even a rough idea of when the assessment would take place. One of the board members initially tried to schedule the candidate’s exam in their region but paused their efforts as they became busy with other tasks, since they believed they had no obligation to arrange for testing in the candidate’s location.  

Several months later, given the board’s lack of meaningful response, the candidate sent an email expressing disappointment with the exam delay. The board decided to eliminate the candidate from the appointment process due to a failure to meet 2 essential qualifications, assessed solely on the basis of this email. The board assessed all other candidates on those qualifications using an interview and reference checks and one appointment was made. While organizations have the discretion to choose any assessment method, the email was not an appropriate assessment tool in this case, because it had no direct link to the qualifications used to eliminate the candidate.

During the investigation, the evidence showed that the board’s actions constituted improper conduct and led to the candidate’s elimination from the appointment process. The evidence also showed that this improper conduct affected the selection of the person appointed or selected for appointment.

Corrective actions

Following the conclusion of improper conduct in the appointment process, the Commission ordered the following actions:

• The organization:
• must reintegrate the candidate into the appointment process, allow them to write the exam within 60 days and have a different board assess the candidate
• if the candidate passes the exam, the organization must offer them the opportunity to continue the assessment process; if deemed qualified, the candidate is eligible for appointment for 2 years
• All board members:
• must complete the Values and Ethics Foundations for Managers course (C355) offered by the Canada School of Public Service, and then have a discussion with their director
• failure to do so will result in the revocation of their appointment
• must complete the organization’s staffing sub-delegation course, and then have a discussion with their director
• failure to do so will result in the revocation of their appointment

Investigation file number: 21-22-07