# 2012-165 - Cease-Training, Procedural Fairness, Progress Review Board (PRB), Release

Cease-Training, Procedural Fairness, Progress Review Board (PRB), Release

Case Summary

F&R Date: 2013–06–27

The grievor was removed from on-the-job training in his basic qualification course on the recommendation of a Progress Review Board convened following failures to satisfy several performance checks. As a result, the grievor was assessed by a Personnel Selection Officer for a compulsory occupation reassignment. The Personnel Selection Officer recommended the release of the grievor, specifying, inter alia, that the grievor's choice of trade was motivated by the duration of the training rather than by a true interest in a military career. The Director Military Careers Administration approved this assessment and released the grievor from the Canadian Forces.

The grievor submitted a grievance contesting the decisions to terminate his training, to remove him from his military occupation, to make him the subject of a compulsory occupation reassignment and, finally, to release him. The grievor alleged, among other things, that the process used by the Progress Review Board had not been in accordance with the applicable policy and had contravened the basic principles of procedural fairness.

The Committee determined that several key principles of procedural fairness had not been respected by the Progress Review Board and that there had been several breaches with regard to Base Borden Standing Administrative Instruction 1103 - Manual of Individual Training and Education, the applicable policy. In particular, the Committee noted that the Commandant had not detailed the reasons for his decision, a serious breach of procedural fairness. The Committee concluded that the decision of the Commandant approving the recommendation of the Progress Review Board should be rescinded.

The Committee therefore reassessed the substantiation in the file and determined that the grievor had sufficient recurring difficulty to justify not only his removal from training and the convening of a Progress Review Board, but also the termination of his training and the initiation of the process of reassignment. The Committee determined that the grounds cited for release rather than reassignment were unreasonable. The Committee was of the opinion that it was reasonable for the grievor, faced with a situation of having to start over again after a long period of training and separation from his family, to have taken into consideration training periods in his choices of preferred military occupations for reassignment. The Committee concluded that the release was unreasonable because it was based on premature conclusions and on items taken out of context.

The Committee recommended that the Chief of the Defence Staff partially uphold the grievance and facilitate the re-enrolment of the grievor in the Canadian Forces, if the grievor so wished.

CDS Decision Summary

CDS Decision Date: 2014–03–17

The CDS is in partial agreement with the Board's conclusions but accepts the totality of its recommendations. In effect, the CDS concluded that the grievor's withdrawal from training and his release were reasonable since the trades in which he had evinced an interest at the time his file was assessed were not available. The CDS also stated that he was favourable to the grievor's re-enrolment should he wish to serve in the CAF in future.

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