The complainant filed a complaint under section 23 of the Public Service Staff Relations Act (PSSRA), alleging that his supervisor did not consider his candidacy for an acting appointment by reason only of the complainant’s unavailability because he occupied a national position in his union -- a hearing was held before the Public Service Staff Relations Board (the former Board) and the complaint was dismissed in decision 2004 PSSRB 29 -- the complainant filed a successful judicial review application and the Federal Court of Appeal ordered a new hearing -- on April 1, 2005, following the decision of the Court but before the new hearing had taken place, the PSSRA was repealed and the Public Service Labour Relations Act (PSLRA), enacted by section 2 of the Public Service Modernization Act (PSMA), came into force -- prior to proceeding with the evidentiary portion of the hearing, the parties were given the opportunity to make both oral and written submissions regarding the effect of the coming into force of the transitional provisions of the PSMA as well as a recent decision of the Public Service Labour Relations Board (the Board) on the same issue -- the Board noted some of the substantive differences between the PSLRA and the PSSRA with respect to unfair labour practice complaints -- in particular, the Board noted that the PSLRA imposed time limits for the filing of complaints that had not existed in the PSSRA and observed that under the PSLRA the burden of proof would shift from the complainant to the respondent -- the Board found that the parties’ rights had vested in view of the fact that the complaint had been filed with the former Board and that both the former Board and the Federal Court of Appeal had decided the matter on the basis of the PSSRA -- the effect of the Federal Court of Appeal’s decision is to place the parties in the position that they would have been in prior to the hearing conducted by the former Board and not to create a whole new complaint -- the shift in the burden of proof and the inclusion of time limits for the filing of a complaint under the PSLRA affects substantive rights and are not merely procedural changes -- the fundamental rights, obligations and responsibilities of the parties have been altered -- the rights of the parties should not be interfered with in the absence of a clear legislative intent -- complaint to be decided under the legislative scheme of the PSSRA.

Interlocutory decision rendered.