# 2013-003 Careers, Promotion, Promotion Criteria

Case Summary

F&R Date: 2013–04–22

The grievor was denied promotion to the rank of Second Lieutenant upon graduation from the Royal Military College (RMC) because he was not medically fit, having been assigned a temporary medical category with temporary medical employment limitations. The issue to be determined was whether the decision to deny the grievor his commission and promotion was justified and in accordance with policy.

The Initial Authority (IA) denied the grievance based on the general provisions outlined at Canadian Forces Administrative Orders (CFAO) 11-6 and paragraph 3 of Canadian Forces General Message 087/06 which state that for an Officer Cadet to be commissioned and promoted upon completion of academic training, he must meet the requirements for promotion and commissioning and be medically fit, operationally employable, and deployable. He must also meet the minimum medical standards for the field of employment prescribed in A-MD-154-000/FP-000 - medical standards for the Canadian Forces.

The IA concluded that, on the date of his graduation from RMC, the grievor's medical category remained below that required for promotion and that the decision to deny his promotion was based on his medical category which breached the requirement for members to be operationally employable and deployable.

The Board agreed with the IA that upon graduation from RMC, the grievor's medical category remained below that required for his field of employment and, therefore, precluded his promotion. The Board further found that the grievor's health and medical category never improved sufficiently to permit his promotion at any point prior to his medical release. As a result, the Board found that the decision to deny the grievor a promotion following his graduation from RMC was justified and in accordance with policy.

The Board recommended that the Chief of the Defence Staff deny the grievance.

CDS Decision Summary

CDS Decision Date: 2013–08–30

The FA agreed with the Board's findings and recommendation that the grievance be denied.