# 2021-073 Careers, Initial Counselling, Promotion

Case summary

F&R Date: 2022-03-21

The grievor, a member of the Reserve Force on Class A service, argued that he was improperly administered a remedial measure (RM) and was subject to other administrative actions due to his role with a registered Canadian charity. The grievor stated that, prior to undertaking his responsibility with the charity, he had come to an agreement with his chain of command (CoC) that he would be treated as a civilian during his interactions with the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) in order to avoid any potential situations of conflict of interest. When the charity's annual campaign became jeopardized due to a delay in receiving the necessary approval to receive CAF assistance from the Chief of Defence Staff's Office, the grievor contacted his local Member of Parliament for assistance, for which he received a RM. The grievor argued that this incident was further used by the CoC to delay a promotion and an appointment to a Regimental Sargent Major position. As redress, the grievor requested to have the RM rescinded and any mention of it removed from his file, to have his promotion and associated benefits back dated, as well as answers to several technical questions.

The Initial Authority rejected the grievance on the grounds that it was submitted outside the prescribed time limits and that it would not be in the interests of justice to consider it.

The Committee reviewed the actions of the grievor as well as the relevant policies and found that the RM issued to the grievor was not justified. The Committee found that, although the RM deficiency indicated that the grievor had placed himself in a conflict of interest by contacting the office of his local Military Police, merely mentioning that he was a member of the CAF in his correspondence does not constitute a conflict between his military duties and his civilian role with the charity. As the grievor had not breached Defence Administrative Orders and Directive (DAOD) 7021-1, Conflict of Interest, the Committee found that the RM was not justified and was issued contrary to DAOD 5019-4, Remedial Measures.

The Committee recommended to the Final Authority (FA) to quash the RM and remove all references to it from the grievor's personnel record. The Committee also recommended the mention to the RM in the grievor's 2018/2019 Personnel Evaluation Report be removed, the performance assessment factor for “Ethics and Values” be adjusted, and that the grievor's promotion be considered effective as of 1 April 2019.

FA decision summary

The Director Canadian Forces Grievance Authority, acting as FA, agreed with the Committee's findings and recommendation to provide redress. Like the Committee, the FA found no reliable evidence that led to believe that the grievor obtained any form of personal gains. Furthermore, paragraph 4.1 of DAOD 7021-1 does not apply for a CAF member on Class A Reserve service. The FA agreed with the Committee that the initial counselling (IC) was not justified and played a role in his promotion. Therefore, the FA directed that IC and related documents be deleted from the grievor personal file, that the grievor's Personnel Evaluation Report be amended, and that his promotion be backdated to the date which he would have been entitled to receive it had he been employed as Regimental Sargent Major.