Grievance Case Summary - G-228

The Grievor requested payment of the bilingualism bonus for the period between March 29, 1989 and July 15, 1996. According to the Grievor, since he had been working in both official languages and had maintained a proficiency level of "EEC" in his second language, he was entitled to the bonus. The Grievor's request was denied by the Force on the basis that retroactive payment of the bonus could be made only to members that had been stationed in a detachment with a unit bilingual complement (UBC). The Grievor's detachment did not have a UBC. The Grievor submitted a grievance.

The Level I adjudicator found that the decision being grieved was the decision by the Force not to assign a UBC to the Grievor's detachment. The adjudicator concluded that this decision had neither been an error nor an oversight and, accordingly, denied the grievance. A Certificate of Service indicated that the Grievor was served with the Level I decision on February 26, 1996. On April 4, 1998, the Grievor wrote to the Grievance Unit to enquire about the status of his Level II grievance. He attached a copy of his grievance presentation, form 3081, dated February 25, 1996. The form identifies February 18, 1996 as the date of service of the Level I decision. The Grievor was informed that his Level II grievance presentation had not been received by the Force before April 4, 1998 and his file was sent to the Committee for its review.

Prior to its review, the Committee asked the Grievor to provide an affidavit indicating when he became aware of the Level I decision and when he had filed his Level II grievance. The Grievor was also invited to submit the reasons why he had waited two years before contacting the Grievance Unit in this matter. The Grievor responded that the decision had been left in his assigned mail slot on the date indicated on the form 3081. He submitted that a grievance presentation had been prepared and put in the detachment's outgoing mail slot. Finally, the Grievor indicated that the reason for the two-year wait was that he had been aware that the grievance process was "quite slow".

On June 23, 1999, the ERC issued its findings and recommendations. The Committee found that the subject of the grievance was the Grievor's entitlement to the bilingualism bonus, and not the failure to assign a UBC to the Grievor's detachment. The Committee noted that the Grievor had not provided an affidavit as requested. Therefore, the Committee found that the Grievor had not established that his Level II grievance had been presented within the prescribed time and recommended denying the grievance on time limits. The Committee also found it unreasonable that the Grievor waited two years before enquiring about the status of his grievance, and accordingly, recommended to the Commissioner that he not extend the time limit.

On July 22, 1999, the Commissioner rendered his decision in this matter. His decision, as summarized by his office, is as follows:

The Commissioner agreed with the Committee that the Level II time limit had not been respected and that there was insufficient justification to warrant an extension.