# 2021-240 Careers, Compulsory Occupational Transfer

Case summary

F&R Date: 2022-09-14

The grievor underwent a Compulsory Occupational Transfer - Untrained (COT-U) before reaching the Operational Functional Point of their occupation, as a result of Medical Employment Limitations (MEL). The grievor argued that their subsequent Enter Promotion Zone (EPZ) and promotion dates to Sub-Lieutenant (SLt) in their new trade had been miscalculated and that the 19-month COT-U process took too long, resulting in an unnecessary delay to their career progression.

The Initial Authority (IA), the Director General Military Careers, found that the grievor had 10-months of productive time at the rank of Acting Sub-Lieutenant before the COT-U concluded, and so adjusted the grievor's EPZ to SLt to two months after the effective COT-U date. The IA also amended the grievor's subsequent promotion dates to SLt and Lieutenant(Navy) (Lt(N)).

Referring to the Basic Training Administration Guide, as well as Canadian Forces General messages 257/10 and 112/14, the Committee found that the grievor's 19-month COT process was poorly administered by the Canadian Armed Forces, and that the grievor had suffered unnecessary and harmful delay to their career progression. The Committee noted a recent Final Authority (FA) decision in which the FA concluded that the earliest date that the Director Military Careers Administration could have approved a COT-U was 90-days following the notification of the need for a COT-U decision. The FA went on to backdate the effective COT-U date accordingly. The Committee agreed with that FA decision and recommended that the FA grant redress in this case by backdating the grievor's effective COT-U date to 90-days following the MEL determination, and by amending the grievor's EPZ and promotion dates for the ranks of SLt and Lt(N).