# 2014-088 Others, Procedural Fairness, Summary Investigation

Case summary

F&R Date: 2014-10-17

The grievor was posted to an operational theatre where he was assigned responsibility for an accountable advance. At one point, a significant portion of the advance was discovered to be missing. There was both a military police investigation as well as a summary investigation (SI) conducted into the loss. Although theft was suspected, there was insufficient evidence to make this determination. The SI concluded that the grievor should be held accountable and that the loss should be recovered from his pay. The grievor's Commanding Officer and the Theatre Commander concurred with the SI and forwarded it to the Canadian Expeditionary Force Command Headquarters for action. It was three years later when the grievor was advised of the results of the SI and recovery action was then taken against him.

The grievor objected to the recovery action and claimed that he had not been provided with appropriate storage facilities for the funds and that he had taken the most appropriate security measures available to him. He also argued that there were many agencies that contributed to the loss, but he was unfairly being held fully responsible.

The Committee had to determine whether the recovery of the lost funds from the grievor was reasonable.

During its review, the Committee determined that the grievor had not been provided with procedural fairness during the conduct of the SI, as is demanded by Defence Administrative Order and Directive (DAOD) 7002-4; nor had the SI ever been approved by the appropriate authority, and was therefore still open. In addition, the Committee found that it was not only the actions of the grievor that contributed to the loss; there were numerous other failings. Finally, the Committee found that the grievor's legitimate expectations of a fair and thorough investigation, before recovery action was taken, had not been met.

The Committee recommended that the decision to recover the lost funds from the grievor be set aside.

FA decision summary

In April 2021, six and a half years after the Committee's F&R report was sent to the Final Authority and the grievor, the grievor withdrew his grievance.