Humber-Bay of Islands MHA Eddie Joyce says he did not violate any rules by asking Service NL Minister Sherry Gambin-Walsh to look for options for a friend.
Commissioner for Legislative Standards Bruce Chaulk says Joyce is guilty of Section 10 of the MHA Code of Conduct for attempting to get a friend of his a government job.
Speaking with The Telegram last week, Joyce says there’s a simple confusion at play that exonerates him of wrongdoing.
Instead of trying to influence the non-political hiring process of the Public Service Commission, Joyce says he was referring to temporary, 13-week positions that regularly come up within any given department.
“There’s a lot of temporary jobs that come up in government. There’s a difference between a temporary position and a public service commission position,” said Joyce.
“We do it on a regular basis – government wouldn’t be able to operate without it.”
The claim is borne out by the report filed by Chaulk.
Service NL deputy minister Sean Dutton is quoted in the report stating he did not feel influenced by Joyce during the hiring process – though that says nothing of any potential influence Joyce tried to exert on Gambin-Walsh.
“He said that Minister Joyce did not follow up with him directly, but the complainant approached him a couple of times regarding the status of the competition,” Chaulk wrote in his report.
“He said that she made it clear that MHA Joyce was asking her. He said that their interactions left him understanding that the complainant ‘was under some pressure.’”
Joyce says what he meant by “see what you can do” was that if his personal friend did not make it through the Public Service Commission hiring process, to see if there were any temporary positions available.
Ultimately, the person in question did not get an interview for the position, which Joyce believes is another spot of proof he did nothing wrong.
Gambin-Walsh declined an interview but issued a brief statement rebuking Joyce’s assertion.
“This was not a 13-week, temporary position,” said Gambin Walsh.
So, what exactly is a 13-week, temporary position?
A spokesperson for the Human Resource Secretariat says the positions come up frequently within government and require no job competition.
Joyce stated that ministers hand resumes to one another on a regular basis, accordingly as the temporary positions coming up. Each minister is free to place people in the temporary positions as they see fit, without a hiring process.
While the process is not written in legislation, it is present in collective bargaining agreements with public-sector unions. Clause 5.01 cc of NAPE’s collective agreement, for example, specifies an employee can be put into a higher or lower position for up to 13 weeks without any competition.
The position is requested by the department, but ultimately signed off by the assistant deputy minister, deputy minister and minister.
Currently, there are 216 such temporary positions operating within the government. The number fluctuates, with 148 at this time in 2016 and 218 at this time in 2014, as examples.
The positions essentially allow work to continue while a more permanent replacement for the position is found.
Whether there was any wrongdoing by Joyce in trying to influence a temporary position or if the House will agree with Gambin-Walsh that it was a competition for a more permanent position will be determined in the coming days and weeks.
Twitter: @DavidMaherNL
