# 2014-120 - Accommodation, Release - Compulsory

Case Summary

F&R Date: 2015–10–19

The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) denied the grievor's request for a Voluntary Occupation Transfer – Untrained (VOT-U). The grievor served at four separate workplaces while awaiting training and/or career disposition decisions. In each of these workplaces, the grievor's performance was captured by a written assessment. The grievor argued that these documents were prejudicial, inaccurate, unsubstantiated and unfair.

Also, the grievor had requested permission to take a day of annual leave to attend his mosque for the festival of Eid-ul-Fitr, an important religious holiday in the Muslim faith. The request was denied and the grievor was instead granted only 1.5 hours leave to attend his mosque, which was an insufficient amount of time. He returned to his place of duty an hour late and was given a Recorded Warning (RW) for being absent without leave. The grievor asked that the four work assessments and the RW be removed from his record and not be used as grounds to deny his VOT-U.

The initial authority (IA), the Director General Military Careers, found that the documents in question were substantiated, accurate and fair and that it was appropriate for the CAF to take these documents into account when recommending that the grievor's VOT-U request be denied.

The Committee found that all four of the assessments were based on first-hand knowledge of the grievor and his work performance. Specific instances were provided in which the grievor had performed in an unsatisfactory manner. The Committee noted that the grievor did not submit any evidence to prove that the assessments were made in bad faith, were inaccurate or were unsubstantiated. Therefore, the Committee found that they should remain on the grievor's record. The Committee concluded that the decision to find the grievor unsuitable for a VOT-U was warranted and was based upon a comprehensive review of his military career and relevant documents.

With respect to the mosque incident, the Committee contacted the Directorate of Human Rights and Diversity (DHRD) who confirmed that the Interim Policy on Religious Accommodation remains the CAF policy in force. This policy expressly states that, unless the CAF can prove hardship, every reasonable effort shall be made to permit the observance of religious practices by individual CAF members. The DHRD also confirmed that, in the grievor's case, he should have been accommodated by being granted a day of leave to attend mosque.

Accordingly, the Committee found that there was a failure by the chain of command to apply the official CAF accommodation policy in the grievor's case, and that there were insufficient grounds to justify the assigned remedial measure. The Committee recommended that the Chief of the Defence Staff remove the RW from the grievor's record.

CDS Decision Summary

CDS Decision Pending