These definitions apply throughout all directives. Definitions specific to each directive are found within the definitions section to that directive.
Annual salary (traitement annuel) means the employee's rate of pay or acting pay, unless otherwise specified, calculated on an annual basis, that is payable in respect of the regular duties performed by the employee in the department.
Appropriate foreign service interdepartmental coordinating committee (comité interministériel compétent de coordination du service extérieur) means one of the committees as described in the Guide to the NJC Rates and Allowances whose role and responsibilities are to provide a recommendation and/or a decision on specific interpretation and/or application of FSD provisions.
Career foreign service employee (fonctionnaire qui fait carrière dans le service extérieur) means an employee who, as a condition of employment, served abroad pursuant to a rotational pattern throughout the span of their career. This rotational service normally involves assignments to a number of posts but occasionally, due to operational requirements, assignments may be limited to one or a few posts.
Child under a custody arrangement (enfant avec une entente de garde) means a child of an employee or spouse/common-law partner who will not be residing with the employee at post but for whom the employee may request family reunion under the provisions of section 51.10 of FSD 51 – Family Reunion; where the child will be residing with the employee at post for at least 12 consecutive months, the child will be considered a dependant while at post and the normal provisions of these directives shall apply.
Compensation day (jour de rémunération) means any day other than the one or two days per week designated as a day or days of rest at the mission.
Cross-posting (affectation d’un poste à l’étranger à un autre) means the assignment of an employee from one post to another post.
Crown-held accommodation (logement de l'État) means accommodation owned, leased, or controlled by the Crown and includes accommodation provided directly to an employee by the host government.
Day (jour) when referring to or for the purpose of computing leave or allowances, means compensation day.
Department (ministère) means a department or other portion of the public service of Canada:
- listed in Schedules I and IV to the Financial Administration Act;
- listed in Schedule V to the Financial Administration Act and which is a member of the National Joint Council of the Public Service of Canada and for which the Foreign Service Directives form part of their collective agreements.
Dependant (personne à charge) means:
- the spouse or common-law partner of an employee; or
- a biological child, adopted child, stepchild or legal ward of an employee (or of an employee's spouse or common-law partner) who:
- resides with the employee at the post; and
- is unmarried; and
- is either under 21 years of age and continues to be in a dependent relationship with the employee (or with the employee's spouse or common-law partner), or is 21 or more years of age, and is dependent upon the employee (or upon the employee's spouse or common-law partner) by reason of mental or physical disability;
- subject to the definition of "spouse or common-law partner", any other individual who resides with the employee at the post and who, in the opinion of the deputy head, is dependent upon the employee (or upon the employee's spouse or common-law partner) due to exceptional circumstances; where the deputy head exercises discretion under this section, the details shall be reported to the appropriate foreign service interdepartmental coordinating committee.
Dependent student (élève à charge) except as provided for in section 51.6 of FSD 51 – Family Reunion, means a dependant, within the meaning of (b) and (c) of the definition of "dependant", who is not residing with the employee because that student is in full-time attendance at an educational institution.
Deputy head (administrateur général) in relation to a department, except where specified otherwise, means the deputy minister of the department, and in relation to other portions of the public service of Canada, means the chief executive officer thereof, or, if there is no chief executive officer, such person as the Governor in Council may designate as the deputy head for purposes of the directives.
Employee (fonctionnaire) means a person to whom the Foreign Service Directives apply in accordance with FSD 3 - Application.
Employee-couple (couple de fonctionnaires) means two individuals assigned to the same post, or to different posts, who are married to each other or who have signed the declaration in Appendix A of this directive where:
- both individuals are employees; or
- one individual is an employee and the other is eligible to claim foreign service entitlements from the Government of Canada (e.g., military personnel).
Specific application of the Foreign Service Directives to employee-couples is found in FSD 3 - Application.
Family configuration (taille de la famille) means the employee who is at post and the number of dependants who are normally residing with the employee at the post for at least eight months of any consecutive 12 month period as follows:
- Unaccompanied (non-accompagné) refers to an employee who is not accompanied by a dependant;
- Accompanied by one dependant (accompagné d'une personne à charge) means that one dependant is residing with the employee at the post;
- Accompanied by two dependants (accompagné de deux personnes à charge) means that two dependants are residing with the employee at the post; one of such dependants must be a dependent child;
- Accompanied by three dependants (accompagné de trois personnes à charge) means that three dependants are residing with the employee at the post; one of such dependants must be a dependent child;
- Accompanied by four or more dependants (accompagné d'au moins quatre personnes à charge) means that four or more dependants are residing with the employee at the post; one of such dependants must be a dependent child.
Foreign assignment employee (fonctionnaire affecté à l'étranger) means an employee who has made no commitment to serve abroad throughout the span of their career pursuant to a rotational pattern, but who serves an occasional assignment at a post.
Headquarters (bureau principal) means the employee's normal place of duty in Canada as determined by the deputy head at the time the employee is assigned to duty outside Canada; for career foreign service employees, the headquarters city is Ottawa-Gatineau.
Household effects (effets mobiliers) means the furniture, household equipment and personal articles of employees and their dependants (including motorcycles) but does not include other private motor vehicles (PMV), livestock or pets.
Kilometric/mileage rate (taux de kilométrage/millage) means the rate claimable in cents per kilometre/mile as applicable.
For Canada: https://www.njc-cnm.gc.ca/directive/travel-voyage/td-dv-a2-eng.php;
For Outside Canada: http://www.njc-cnm.gc.ca/doc.php?did=549&lang=en
Leave (congé) means authorized absence from duty and includes vacation leave, sick leave, special leave, compassionate and foreign service leave authorized under the FSDs and leave of any other type:
- authorized under the Directives Respecting the Terms and Conditions of Employment for Certain Unrepresented Employees in Certain Parts of the Public Service; or
- authorized under any Act, in the case of an employee employed under that Act; or
- authorized pursuant to the terms of a collective agreement applicable to the employee, the provisions of which have been implemented in accordance with the Treasury Board General Implementation Order.
Living expenses (frais de subsistance) means actual and reasonable expenses for accommodation, meals, laundry, dry cleaning and valet services and attendant gratuities.
Lower kilometric/mileage rate (taux de kilométrage/millage réduits) means the rate claimable in cents per kilometre/mile as applicable.
For Canada: http://www.njc-cnm.gc.ca/s3/d478/en
For Outside Canada: http://www.njc-cnm.gc.ca/doc.php?did=549&lang=en
Mission (mission) means an office of a department outside Canada.
Medical service provider (fournisseur de services médicaux) is normally Health Canada or the provider as designated by the deputy head to provide medical services for an employee or a dependant.
Month of service (mois de service) means each calendar month where an employee has earned at least seventy-five (75) hours of pay at a post, except that during a cross-posting an employee cannot accumulate credits on the basis of two periods of ten compensation days within the same calendar month.
Normally residing with the employee at post (résidant normalement avec l’employé au poste) means residing full-time with the employee at the post, nothwithstanding temporary absences which do not exceed a period of 120 days within each 12 month period and subject to section 3.6 of FSD 3 – Application. For the purpose of this definition, the first 12 month period shall commence on the date of arrival of the dependant and each subsequent 12 month period shall commence on the anniversary date of the initial arrival.
Period of temporary duty (période de service temporaire) means the time spent on official duty at a place outside the area normally serviced by the mission where the employee is assigned, and includes travelling time from the post to the place of temporary duty and return.
Place of duty (lieu de travail) refers to a location in Canada or a post at or from which an employee's duties are ordinarily performed, and includes any area which, according to local custom, is within commuting distance of the place of duty.
Post (poste) means a city, community, or other geographic locality in which a "mission" is situated.
Principal residence (résidence principale) means a single-family dwelling owned or rented by the employee or dependant residing with the employee which is continuously occupied by the employee or a dependant at the time of the relocation, and which is recorded as the employee’s permanent address in the headquarters city on the departmental or agency personnel file. Temporary or seasonal accommodation is excluded from this definition.
Relocation (réinstallation) refers to the authorized geographic move of an employee and/or dependant between a place of duty in Canada and a place of duty at a post, or between a place of duty at one post and a place of duty at another post.
Relocation expenses (frais de réinstallation) means the cost as applicable of either:
- travelling expenses of the employee and a dependant, and/or packing, crating, cartage, transportation and unpacking of an employee's household effects, and/or long-term storage of household effects where the deputy head has not authorized shipment of such effects to the employee's post, or necessary incidental storage of those household effects which the deputy head has authorized for shipment for a period not exceeding twelve months; or
- the various expenses for which provision is made in FSD 15 - Relocation.
Self-contained accommodation (logement indépendant) means commercial accommodation or temporary Crown-held staff accommodation, equipped with adequate furniture, furnishing and appliances.
Senior officer (agent supérieur) for each department represented at a mission means the person at each mission designated by the deputy head as senior officer, or, if no such designation is made, the highest ranking employee of the department serving at the mission.
Shelter cost (frais de logement) means the amount in Canadian dollars which the employee must pay monthly to the employer when occupying:
- Crown-held accommodation; or
- privately-leased accommodation and the employee is in receipt of shelter assistance in accordance with the provisions of FSD 25 – Shelter.
Single-family dwelling (logement unifamilial) means living quarters containing the normal amenities necessary for continuous year-round occupancy. The dwelling must be structurally separated and have an entrance or entrances from outside the building or from a common hall, lobby, vestibule or stairway inside the building.
Spouse or common-law partner (époux ou conjoint de fait) means the person married to the employee, or an individual who, with the employee, has signed the declaration in Appendix A of this directive; where the declaration is used, the common-law partner shall not be considered a dependant for purposes of the Foreign Service Directives unless the acceptability of the common-law partner accompanying the employee has been agreed to by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs following consultation with the Head of Mission and the deputy head.
Travel leave (congé de déplacement) means a period of absence with pay authorized by the deputy head to cover travelling time for a journey and during which the employee is deemed to be on duty for the purpose of any applicable accident compensation.
Travelling expenses (frais de voyages) except as provided for under the Relocation Travel portion of FSD 15 - Relocation for travel under that directive and/or FSD 64 - Emergency Evacuation and Loss, means expenses for air transportation and local transportation to and from airports at the points of departure and destination and, when authorized in advance by the deputy head, for accommodation, meals and local transportation to and from the airport for a necessary stopover, where it is not possible or practicable to arrange an itinerary which will permit continuing travel to the approved destination.
Travelling time (temps de déplacement) means the time actually required for a journey including unavoidable or permissible stopovers referred to in section 15.9 of FSD 15 – Relocation but not exceeding the time required for the same journey by the most economic mode and the most direct route in the circumstances of each case as determined by the deputy head.
Unaccompanied (non accompagné) refers to an employee who is not accompanied by a dependant.
Unhealthy post (poste insalubre) means a post designated by Health Canada as an unhealthy post and listed in the Appendix A of FSD 38 - Preventive Medical Services Expenses.