# 2020-025 Careers, Initial Counselling

Case Summary

F&R Date: 2021–01–28

The grievor argued that the Initial Counselling (IC) for Conduct he received was not issued in accordance with Defence Administrative Orders and Directives (DAOD) 5019-4, Remedial Measures. He disputed the facts as laid out by his Chain of Command (CoC) and stated that at no time during the investigation into the allegations of misconduct against him was he interviewed to provide his version of events. 

The grievor's CoC stated that they conducted an informal investigation into the allegations by conducting several interviews with senior members of the grievor's sub-unit The actual complainants were not interviewed, nor was the grievor. The Initial Authority denied the grievor redress finding that the grievor's CoC was correct in issuing him an IC but directed that it be rewritten to be more generic and to remove the specific incident referenced in the original IC.  

The Committee concluded that the grievor had been aggrieved and found that the IC was not based on reliable evidence as the majority of the information included in the IC was not direct evidence and because the grievor was not given the opportunity to provide his version of the events. The Committee therefore recommended the Final Authority (FA) to grant redress by rescinding and removing all records of the remedial measure. 

FA Decision Summary

The FA, the Acting Commander Canadian Army, did not agree with the Committee's recommendation that redress be afforded and that the IC be rescinded. The FA agreed in part with the Committee's findings regarding one incident, accepting the grievor's explanation and determining also that the IC was too vague to be useful. For another incident, however, the FA was provided with the allegation of a witness after the release of the Committee's findings and recommendations report. The FA understood that without this statement, there was no reliable evidence for the Committee to confirm the IC. The FA therefore directed that the current IC be removed from the grievor's file and replace by the one provided with the decision.