# 2018-050 Pay and Benefits, Compassionate Posting

Compassionate Posting

Case summary

F&R Date: 2019-03-12

The grievor complained that his request for compassionate posting status was unfairly denied.

The grievor's Career Manager (CM) indicated to the Director of Military Careers (D Mil C) that there were no planned vacancies at the grievor's place of duty during the active post season in dispute. Consequently, the D Mil C denied the request for compassionate status, which would have allowed the grievor to continue serving in his current place of duty.

The Committee found that the CM searched only for vacant positions in the grievor's occupation, failing to consider whether a suitable vacancy was available outside of the grievor's occupation as required by the D Mil C policy direction for staffing compassionate status requests. The Committee noted that the grievor had suggested several local posting options which the D Mil C staff failed to consider. The Committee found, on a balance of probabilities, that a vacant non-occupational position could have been found that would make good use of the grievor's rank and skill while allowing him the time needed to overcome his challenging situation.

The Committee found that redress should be granted and recommended that the Final Authority direct that the grievor be offered a component transfer back to the Regular Force and to a position in the same duty area.

FA decision summary

The Chief of the Defence Staff, acting as Final Authority (FA), partially agreed with the Committee's findings and recommendations. The FA agreed that the decision to deny compassionate status to the grievor based on a lack of positions was not policy-compliant since the career manager had not checked for vacancies outside the grievor's occupation. He offered to facilitate the grievor's transition back to the Regular Force if the grievor so wished.

The FA did not address the Committee's recommendation to amend Defence Administrative Orders and Directives 5003-6 to clarify the Canadian Armed Forces intent and did not agree with the Committee that Director Military Career's decision on a Friday to release the grievor the following Tuesday after a long weekend had the appearance of a reprisal for posting avoidance.

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