Grievance Case Summary - G-335

An RCMP member filed a grievance in order to challenge a decision made by an employee of Treasury Board Secretariat to decline to declare the community in which the member resided prior to being transferred a "depressed housing market". The issue had a direct bearing on the member because the declaration he was seeking would have allowed him to be fully compensated for the fact that he sold his property for considerably less than its purchase price several years earlier. The Level I adjudicator ruled that he did not have jurisdiction to hear the grievance as it did not pertain to a decision "made in the administration of the affairs of the Force" as required by s. 31(1) of the RCMP Act. The basis for that ruling was that the decision had not been made by a person employed by the RCMP. At Level II, the Grievor argued that a relevant consideration is the fact that he "received documentation for this Depressed Market Application as a member of the RCMP with [his] RCMP relocation information" and that the decision on his application was based on advice received from the RCMP.

Although many grievances pertain to the issue of a member's entitlement to benefits provided by a Treasury Board policy or directive, that is only when the authority to make a decision in that regard rests with an RCMP member or employee. The mere fact that the relocation benefits which are at issue in this grievance pertain to the performance of the Grievor's duties as an RCMP member cannot suffice to subject the decision made by an employee of another government department to a grievance process that is internal to the RCMP. Furthermore, the grievance process cannot be used to challenge advice that the RCMP provides to another department since a member cannot be considered to be "aggrieved" by such advice, Treasury Board Secretariat being ultimately free to reject it.

The Commissioner should find that he does not have jurisdiction to hear the grievance.

The Commissioner's decision, as summarized by his office, is as follows:

On April 14 2005, the Commissioner agreed with the recommendations of the ERC.

The Commissioner stated that he has no jurisdiction to hear a grievance that is based solely on a decision which was rendered by Treasury Board.