# 2022-130 Pay and Benefits, Foreign Service Directives, Medical Treatment, Repatriation, Temporary Duty Benefits

Case summary

F&R Date: 2024-01-23

The grievor was seeking compensation for his emergency evacuation for health reasons. While posted outside Canada with his spouse and children, the grievor had to be medically evacuated to Canada as a result of complications related to COVID-19. A few weeks after his return, the grievor was placed on temporary duty (TD) and given free accommodation in a residential housing unit on a Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) base; at the same time, he continued to pay for his residence outside Canada, where he still had his household goods and effects. The chain of command decided not to send him back, but to assign him a posting in Canada. In addition to having been reimbursed for his actual and reasonable living expenses related to the emergency medical evacuation, the grievor also claimed meal expenses for himself and for his family, independently, in consideration of their respective situations (file 2022-130). Furthermore, the grievor requested compensation for the loss of operational allowances, since he had to be evacuated because of a lack of care and he allegedly met the required criteria (file 2022-311). Finally, the grievor claimed an amount for the loss of foodstuffs and perishable items, since his evacuation was due to an event beyond his control that he characterized as a natural disaster (file 2022-312).  

In the first file, the Emergency Watch and Response Centre awarded the grievor an amount equal to the difference between the receipts provided and the amount allowed for meals as part of his TD, and reimbursed 50% of the amount established for the replacement of his personal effects. The CAF applied the calculation under section 41.2 of the Foreign Service Directive (FSD) for the reimbursement of meal expenses for the grievor and his family. As concerns compensation for the loss of operational allowances, the Initial Authority (IA) denied the grievor's request since the grievor was supporting operations in a special duty area, and his posting was not actually considered as a deployment to a special duty area, which is required to meet allowance criteria. Finally, the IA noted that the grievor was not entitled to the reimbursement for the loss of foodstuffs and perishable items, since his evacuation was not the result of hostilities, but rather a deterioration in his state of health.   

The Committee concluded that: 

• the grievor was entitled to the TD allowance and that the other members of his family were entitled to be reimbursed for their actual and reasonable expenses under section 41.2 of the FSD; 
• the grievor did not meet the conditions for entitlement to the “Allowance – Loss of Operational Allowances” provided for in section 205.536(2) of the Canadian Forces Compensation and Benefits Instructions (CBI); and 
• the grievor was not entitled to reimbursement for the loss of foodstuffs and perishable items under CBI 10.25.03 because the circumstances of his evacuation did not meet the requirements under FSD 64.8.1 for compensation to be paid. 

As concerns meal reimbursement, the Committee established that the grievor had been aggrieved by the policy in force and recommended that the Final Authority (FA) grant redress; however, as concerns the loss of operational allowances and the loss of foodstuffs and perishable items, the Committee considered that the grievor had not been aggrieved by the policy in force and recommended that the FA not grant redress.