A T<7 must be based on the principle of merit but is exempted from the requirement for a competitive process by Section 10 of the Public Service Act.

In 2008, T<7's made up approximately one quarter of all appointments within the jurisdiction of the Merit Commissioner. This special audit focuses on T<7's of regular employees to promotional opportunities. The audit will enable us to learn more about this appointment mechanism as it applies to temporary promotions e.g. how the appointments are made, why managers opt to use this type of appointment, and whether the appointments are based on individual merit.

The audit is being done in two stages. Stage 1, which has been completed, consisted of gathering information and identifying the overall population from raw appointment data obtained from the BC Public Service Agency. The audit identified the numbers of employees on a promotional temporary appointment that was initially seven months or less in 2008; identified any extensions to these appointments; and narrowed the data for further analysis and verification during the second stage of the audit. These initial, first-stage findings have been reported in our 2008/09 Annual Report.

In Stage 2, with BC Stats' assistance, appointments will be randomly selected for audit from the stratified population identified in Stage 1. The audit will determine whether the individuals appointed were assessed for merit and whether they possessed the required qualifications for the positions to which they were appointed. The audit will also explore the details of extensions to T<7's, and determine whether there is any correlation between employee TA's and subsequent permanent appointments to the same position.

Stage 2 audit results and analyses will be reported in the 2009/10 Annual Report, expected May 2010.