Concern that the appointed person may not have passed the Oral Language Assessment in French

This summary highlights the fact that not all concerns brought to the Public Service Commission of Canada (PSC)’s attention lead automatically to an investigation; each request is rigorously examined to determine whether the facts presented warrant an investigation.

Jurisdiction

The review of the investigation request was conducted in accordance with section 69 of the Public Service Employment Act (S.C. 2003, c. 22, ss. 12 and 13).

Issue

The review aimed to determine whether an investigation was warranted to examine the concern that a person who was appointed may have cheated on their Oral Language Assessment in French. According to the allegation received, the person cannot communicate in that language.

Facts

The department shared the appointed person’s Oral Language Assessment result in French, which was used in the internal non-advertised appointment process that led to their appointment.

The candidate’s second language test history confirmed that the result used by the department to support the appointment came from a supervised language assessment conducted by the PSC’s Personnel Psychology Centre. The Personnel Psychology Centre’s quality assurance team reviewed the recording of the test and found no irregularities.

The analysis of the collected information confirms that the person appointed met the language requirements of the position at the time of their appointment. The result of the Oral Language Assessment in French was obtained through a supervised second language assessment, and according to the analysis, there is no indication that the person appointed failed to comply with the general conditions of the test.

Jurisdiction decision

The information obtained from the source of the investigation request, from the department and from the Personnel Psychology Centre was insufficient to suggest the possibility that fraud occurred during the appointed person’s Oral Language Assessment in French as part of the internal non-advertised appointment process. As a result, the Commission determined that an investigation was not warranted under section 69 of the Public Service Employment Act. An investigation was not conducted.

File number: 25-26-05