# 2016-028 Careers, Recorded Warning

Case Summary

F&R Date: 2016–03–17

The grievor, a senior officer, contested a Recorded Warning (RW) for failing to take charge and defuse a situation where a non-commissioned member (NCM) made inappropriate remarks to a junior officer, and that she failed to report the incident to her chain of command.

The RW was issued 12 months after the incident and only after the NCM in question had been convicted at a Summary Trial. The RW used the NCM's conviction as partial substantiation. The grievor argued that the RW was unjust because she had taken appropriate action at the time, taking into account that she had not heard the actual remarks and that it would not be appropriate to chastise the NCM in front of another more junior NCM. As redress, the grievor requested that the RW be quashed.

The Initial Authority (IA) accepted that the grievor had reported the incident to the Deputy Commanding Officer (DCO) and as a result, directed that the RW be rewritten to that effect. The IA found the remainder of the RW to be warranted.

The Committee agreed with the IA that the grievor reporting to her DCO was not a failure to report to her chain of command. The Committee found that the RW's reference to the NCM's conviction was not relevant to whether the grievor had taken appropriate action or not, it merely reflected the NCM's conduct, and stated that any such reference should be removed.

The Committee noted that it was uncontested that, when voices were raised, the grievor twice told the NCM and junior officer to be quiet and they complied. The Committee found that the grievor did not fail to act as indicated in the RW.

The Committee then considered whether the grievor's action was sufficient and failed to see how she failed to meet the standards set out in the General Responsibilities of Officers in Queen's Regulations and Orders for the Canadian Forces 4.02 or the Harassment Prevention and Resolution Guidelines. The Committee acknowledged that another officer might have acted differently and that a variety of actions might have been appropriate. However, since the grievor's intervention was sufficient to stop the situation and her reporting allowed further action to be taken, the Committee considered it unfair to consider, one year after the fact, that her selected course of action was insufficient. The Committee found that the RW was not warranted and was disproportionate in the circumstances.

CDS Decision Summary

The Fa agreed with the Committee's findings and recommendation that the RW be quashed and removed from the grievor's file, as well as all related documents.