The employer’s preliminary objection was that an adjudicator does not have jurisdiction to hear this grievance contesting the termination of employment – the grievor alleged that the termination was an improper layoff, in violation of the workforce adjustment provisions of her collective agreement – the grievor alleged that she should have been given indeterminate status as she had been continuously employed with the same department for over three years – while on seasonal layoff from Parks Canada Agency, the grievor accepted a series of term assignments with the Department of the Environment – the grievor argued that under the terms of Treasury Board’s Term Employment Policy (“the Policy”) she should have been treated as an indeterminate employee and therefore should have been entitled to avail herself of the workforce adjustment provisions of the collective agreement, since the cumulative length of her term positions exceeded the three-year threshold under the Policy – the employer argued that the “substantive position” referred to in the Policy was the grievor’s position with Parks Canada and that her successive terms with the Department of the Environment did not make her eligible for an indeterminate position with that department – the adjudicator held that while there was no dispute regarding the facts, there was clear disagreement about the implications of those facts vis-à-vis the Policy – the question was whether or not an adjudicator of the Board has jurisdiction over those points of contention – section 209 of the Public Service Labour Relations Act defines the scope of jurisdiction for adjudicators – the grievance did not fall within any of the areas of jurisdiction enumerated in subsection 209(1) – the pith and substance of the grievance is whether or not, by the Policy, the grievor was eligible to take advantage of the layoff protections outlined in the collective agreement and could now answer the threshold question of whether or not the grievor should be treated as an indeterminate employee.

Objection allowed, grievance dismissed.