# 2012-088 Releases, Component Transfer (CT), Military Occupation (MOC), Occupational Transfer (OT), Reserve Force, Transfer from Regular Force to Reserve Force

Case Summary

F&R Date: 2013–03–21

The grievor, a Specialist Officer, asked to be released from the Regular Force and transferred to the Reserve Force to fill a position restricted to General Duty Officers. Since this position did not match the grievor's specialty and since only a very limited number of the Primary Reserve positions require this specialty, her transfer within her specialty was not authorized. The grievor was accordingly placed on a Primary Reserve List in the military occupation of Primary Reserve General Duty Officer. She objected to the fact that her transfer had resulted in a change in military occupation. There is no initial authority for the file because the disputed decision was made by an immediate subordinate of the Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS).

The Board first of all concluded that the military employment structure implementation plan that created the occupational group of Primary Reserve General Duty Officer (implementation plan) specifically prohibited direct transfers from the Regular Force to the military occupation of Primary Reserve General Duty Officer. The Board explained that this implementation plan was designed to allow for the transfer of Supplementary Reserve officers to positions in the Primary Reserve when their military occupations did not exist in the Primary Reserve. The Board subsequently concluded that the refusal to transfer the grievor to the Primary Reserve within her speciality was reasonable under the circumstances. The Board then stated that the military occupations of specialists such as medical officers and legal officers existed to meet military requirements relating to a specific profession and that the employment of these specialist officers outside their profession could only be temporary and exceptional, noting that the employment of a specialist officer as a general duty officer was irreconcilable with the military employment structure and current CF policy.

Noting that the grievor had been employed as a general duty officer since her release from the Regular Force, the Board felt it was important to align the grievor's situation with existing policy. The Board accordingly recommended that the CDS make a series of exceptions to the rule that the military occupation does not exist in the Primary Reserve in order to justify the periods of employment that the grievor had already completed as a general duty officer. The Board also recommended to the CDS that the grievor's documents be amended to reflect a transfer to the Supplementary Reserve upon her release from the Regular Force and that each of the subsequent period of employment as a general duty officer be identified as a transfer between the Supplementary Reserve and the Primary Reserve.

In conclusion, the Board recommended to the CDS that the grievor be permanently transferred to the Supplementary Reserve on completing her current employment and that any future period of service in the Primary Reserve conform to existing policy.

CDS Decision Summary

CDS Decision Date: 2014–03–13

Case withdrawn at Final Authority level.