# 2021-302 Careers, Recorded Warning

Case summary

F&R Date: 2022-11-21

The grievor contested the Recorded Warning (RW) that she received because of her conduct while on return to duty (RTD) placements as well as an incident that occurred at a bank branch where she was accused of harassment. The grievor asserted that with regard to the bank incident, she received an apology from the staff for the incident at the bank, that the client representative that she dealt with was fired and that the statement to the police was retracted. The grievor indicated that regarding her RTD placements, she was never issued a Personnel Development Review/Personnel Evaluation Report stating any performance deficiencies, nor was she issued an Initial Counselling prior to receiving a RW.

The Initial Authority (IA) denied the grievance and determined that the RW was justified as it was found that there was overwhelming evidence that the grievor conducted multiple conduct deficiencies. The IA indicated that the grievor did not provide evidence to substantiate her claims that the events at the bank did not happen. Further, it was noted that the grievor's attitude, poor conduct and public incidents likely caused discredit on the Canadian Armed Forces.

The Committee found that on the balance of probabilities the grievor showed a lack of respect towards her chain of command (C of C) and their responsibilities in fulfilling the goals of the RTD program. The Committee also found that the grievor's actions failed to meet the established standards of conduct towards civilian personnel. As such, it was determined that the RW was appropriate.

FA decision summary

The Director Canadian Forces Grievance Authority, acting as FA, disagreed with the Committee's findings and recommendation. The FA put aside all the incidents reported by the financial institution since he was of the view that informing the grievor's employer of alleged inappropriate behavior constitutes a direct violation of customer confidentiality, despite the fact that the grievor used her status as CAF member during the incidents and did not contest the reported facts. Therefore, events occurring at the financial institution were not considered in determining whether the grievor displayed a conduct deficiency as it is a civil matter with no impact on the CAF. The FA found contradiction in the information provided by the C of C and felt there was an appearance of pressure to incriminate the grievor for past actions and failures. The FA gave the grievor the benefit of the doubt, and as there was no sufficient evidence to confirm that the grievor misbehave towards her C of C, directed that the RW be quashed and deleted from the grievor's personnel files.