Grievance Case Summary - G-487

The Grievor filed a grievance against the Respondent's decision not to recognize his overtime hours. These hours were incurred during his participation in meetings of the Mounted Police Members' Legal Fund (Legal Fund). The meetings were held outside of his area of work; upon his return, he submitted a request for compensatory leave for 12 hours of overtime. The Respondent informed the Grievor that it would not authorize his request, because it was not consistent with established policy.

Shortly thereafter, the Respondent requested that the Grievor's request for overtime be subject to an investigation under Part IV of the RCMP Act. The Grievor filed a second grievance with the Office for the Coordination of Grievances (OCG) alleging that he had been the victim of discrimination by his supervisor.

The OCG asked the Level I Adjudicator to determine whether the two grievances should be combined. The Level I Adjudicator determined that the two grievances should be handled separately. The Adjudicator also found that, given the internal investigation, other recourse was available to address the issue, and therefore the Grievor lacked standing. The Grievor later submitted a third grievance concerning the OCG's decision to refer his grievance to the Adjudicator before hearing his representations on the issues of combining the grievances and standing.

The ERC found that the OCG should have met with the parties to hear their observations on the issue of combining the grievances. before referring the matter to the Level I Adjudicator for decision. The ERC also found that the Level I Adjudicator erred in finding that the Grievor lacked standing by rendering that decision without giving advance notice to the parties. The ERC finds that the investigation of the Grievor is not equivalent to a process through which he may obtain the redress sought in his grievance.

With regard to the merits of the grievance, the ERC noted the Legal Fund's status as an independent entity, separate from the RCMP. Although employees may be invited during their work hours to attend meetings for entities that are independent of their employer, the onus was on the Grievor to show that he was entitled to compensation for attending those meetings. The Grievor, who understood that he was attending Legal Fund meetings outside of his work hours, did not establish that any authority granted him entitlement to compensation. Moreover, the Grievor did not establish that he was entitled to overtime hours as a result of his participation in the meetings, given that the applicable policy required that he seek prior approval from his supervisor to work overtime hours.

The ERC recommended that the Commissioner of the RCMP deny the grievance.

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

[TRANSLATION]

The Commissioner accepted the findings and recommendations of the ERC and denied the grievance.