# 2014-190 Careers, Counselling and Probation, Remedial measures, Sexual misconduct

Case summary

F&R Date: 2015-05-27

The grievor, a Cadet Organizations Administration and Training Service (COATS) officer, complained that the Counselling and Probation (C&P) that he received was unreasonable in his circumstances. A 17 year old employee of his fast food restaurant complained of unwelcomed touching but refused to press charges. Though not found guilty of an offence, the Canadian Armed Forces considered the grievor's testimony during a policy interview to determine that he had acted inappropriately for a COATS officer. As a result, he was issued the C&P.

The Committee found that Director Military Careers and Resource Management’s (DMCARM) administrative review (AR) process was procedurally flawed [DMCARM failed to consider the DVD of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police interview with the grievor and the DVD was not disclosed to the grievor during the AR] and that the C&P should be quashed.

The Committee recommended that a new C&P not be created but rather that a copy of the Final Authority (FA) decision letter be placed on the grievor's file.

FA decision summary

The FA did not agree with the Committee's recommendation. The FA agreed with the Committee that the grievor's rights to procedural fairness were breached, which undermine the Director Military Career Administration decision making process, but these lapses had been corrected by the grievance process. However, considering, on a balance of probabilities, that the grievor did touch the minor inappropriately, the FA found that an initial counselling or a recorded warning would not send a strong and clear message. Therefore, the FA found that the decision to assign the grievor the C&P was reasonable in the circumstances.