# 2022-258 Careers, Compulsory Occupational Transfer, Medical Condition, Medical Employment Limitation, Promotion

Case summary

F&R Date: 2024-01-25

The grievor argued that injuries and administrative delays in his medical Compulsory Occupational Transfer (COT) process unfairly delayed his career progression. As redress, the grievor requested that his promotion date to Lieutenant (Lt) and his entry promotion zone (EPZ) date to Captain (Capt) be recalculated. 

The Director General Compensation and Benefits, acting as Initial Authority, rejected the grievance on the grounds that it was submitted outside the time limit prescribed in article 7.06 of the Queen's Regulations and Orders for the Canadian Forces.

The Committee found that the 10-month delay between the assignment of the grievor's updated Permanent Medical Category (PCAT) and the Director Medical Policy's (D Med Pol) approval of the PCAT was unreasonable and determined that the D Med Pol decision should have rendered the decision within six months from the date of the PCAT.  

The Committee also noted that 16 more months elapsed between the PCAT approval and the Administrative Review/Medical Employment Limitation decision. The Committee concluded that it was almost three years from the date of the grievor's injury to his COT to a new occupation. The Committee found that, based on previous findings and recommendations from the Committee and Final Authority decisions, the grievor's COT should have occurred no more than 90 days following a reasonable date of the D Med Pol decision on the grievor's PCAT.

The Committee subsequently found that the grievor should have been promoted to Lt on the same day his COT should have occurred, with his EPZ date to Capt following three years later. The Committee found that the D Med Pol decision should have been made within six months of the PCAT and recommended that the Final Authority grant redress by backdating the grievor's COT to his new occupation to a date of no more than 90 days following a reasonable date of a D Med Pol decision.  

FA Decision Summary

The Deputy Director, Canadian Forces Grievance Authority (D/DCFGA), acting as the Final Authority, agreed with the Committee that after the grievor was injured in training, the ten month wait for a decision from D Med Pol was unreasonable, and at most it should have taken six months. Furthermore, the grievor's COT should have occurred no more than 90 days after the latest date on which D Med Pol should have rendered a decision, rather than 16 additional months after the actual decision date. Consequently, D/DCFGA directed that the grievor's transfer and promotion date to Lieutenant be amended to September 2017 rather than April 2019. The D/DCFGA also recommended that a policy be developed whereby COT dates would be backdated following the successful conclusion of the COT process.