Grievance Case Summary - G-400

The Grievor presented a grievance against a decision by the Officer-in-Charge, Human Resources Development and Resourcing ("the Respondent"). The Respondent refused to grant the Grievor severance pay in accordance with the RCMP Workforce Adjustment Directive (the "Directive (RCMP)"), following the closing of an RCMP detachment.

The grievance was denied at Level I on the grounds that the Grievor had no standing by presenting this grievance. The Grievor presented his grievance at Level II, and the grievance was referred to the Committee.

The Committee does not have jurisdiction to investigate this grievance. The Committee would only have jurisdiction to investigate a grievance regarding a workforce adjustment directive if this directive meets the criteria set out in section 36(a) of the RCMP Regulations (the "Regulations"). The Directive (RCMP) applies only to the RCMP and therefore cannot be considered a "government policy that applies to government departments." It is true that there is a separate Treasury Board policy on this that applies to the entire Public Service called the Workforce Adjustment Directive. However, the wording of this directive clearly indicates that it is not meant to extend to organizations with their own regime regulating workforce adjustment, as is the case for the RCMP. Because of the wording of section 36(a) of the Regulations, and the nature of both directives on workforce adjustment, the Committee does not have jurisdiction to investigate this grievance.

The Committee is not making any recommendations to the Commissioner since it does not have jurisdiction to hear this grievance.

The Commissioner has rendered her decision in this matter, as summarized by her office:

[TRANSLATION] The Commissioner agrees with the ERC that this grievance does not qualify as a type of grievance that can be referred to the ERC. The Commissioner is referring the grievance to the appointed Level II Adjudicator, who has jurisdiction to rule on grievances that cannot be referred to the ERC.