# 2015-164 - Separation Expense (SE)

Case Summary

F&R Date: 2015–09–17

In 2010, the grievor was given an imposed restriction posting. He received authorization to occupy military married quarters, and personnel from the Military Human Resources Centre informed him that he could rent furniture from another person. In 2014, he was informed that, since 2012, the policy required that furniture be rented from a commercial company specializing in furniture rentals and he was therefore not entitled to be compensated for the rental of his furniture since that time. The CAF proceeded to recover the amounts claimed and paid to the grievor since January 2012. The grievor maintained that he was never informed of the policy change. He also challenged the recovery period, saying that the policy came into effect in 2013.

The Initial Authority (IA) stated that, although the policy in its current form was issued in 2013, the changes were published and came into effect in 2012. The IA also indicated that it was a Treasury Board policy and that the CAF does not have the authority to not comply with it. The IA denied the grievance.

The Committee noted that the rule stipulating that furniture had to be rented from a commercial company had been in effect before the policy change in 2012, as it was clearly set out in a memorandum. However, the Committee recognized that the directive was not clear on the matter. The Committee pointed out that the message announcing changes to the directive specifically provided that no change had been made, whereas the new version of the policy now included guidance on furniture rental allowances. The Committee found that the Military Human Resources Centre failed in its duty to correctly inform the soldier, as the grievor's claims continued to be approved. For these reasons, the Committee recommended that the grievor's file be sent to the Director, Claims and Civil Litigation, so consideration be given to financially compensate him for his furniture rental costs.

FA Decision Summary

The CDS agreed with the Committee's finding that the grievor had been aggrieved, but did not concur with the Committee's proposed redress measure. Invoking the special powers of the Minister under CBI 208.801, the CDS ordered that recovery be ceased and that the grievor be reimbursed for the furniture rental allowances that were recovered from his pay account for the period from 1 January 2012 to this day.