# 2018-083 Careers, Repatriation

Case summary

F&R Date: 2019-11-25

The grievor was deployed overseas. His contingent was allowed to participate in a visit to a nearby city. One contingent member missed the buses back to the base. An investigation determined that the grievor was at fault and he was issued a recorded warning (RW) and repatriated four months earlier than expected. The grievor complained that he was not responsible for the events that unfolded and that the RW and repatriation were unwarranted. The grievor asked to be compensated for the financial benefits he missed out on and to have the RW quashed.

There was no Initial Authority decision because the Commander of Canadian Joint Operations Command found that the grievance failed to meet the time limits set out in Queen's Regulations and Orders for the Canadian Forces, article 7.06.

The Committee found that the investigation was not an accurate portrayal of the facts and that the grievor's actions on the night in question were reasonable and met the standard expected of the grievor's rank. The Committee concluded that there was no justification for the RW and the subsequent repatriation. The Committee recommended that the RW be quashed and that the grievor's Category D repatriation be amended to Category A. The Committee explained that the forfeited allowances could not be paid to the grievor when he was no longer deployed. However, the Committee recommended that the Final Authority grant the grievor an ex gratia payment to remedy the humiliation and embarrassment the grievor experienced as a result of his unjustified repatriation.

FA decision summary

The Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS) agreed with the Committee's finding that the grievor had been aggrieved and with its recommendations to quash the RW and amend the grievor's repatriation category. However, the CDS declined to grant an ex gratia payment, as the Committee had recommended. The CDS noted that the missing contingent member was not under the grievor's charge at the time he went missing, and that the contingent Sergeant Major had conducted an incomplete roll call by failing to call out the missing member's name on one of the buses. The CDS found that the grievor's actions were appropriate and that he was not responsible for the whereabouts of the missing contingent member. The CDS acknowledged that the Committee had recommended an ex gratia payment, but found that a more effective remedy would be to remove the RW and amend the grievor's repatriation category.