# 2022-096 Careers, Obligatory Service, Regular Officer Training Plan, Release - Voluntary, Subsidized Education Repayment

Case summary

F&R Date: 2023-12-12

The grievor requested that his debt towards the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) be cancelled following his voluntary release. The grievor explained that, when he enrolled, he had wanted to do a specific trade, but the recruiting personnel had convinced him to join the Regular Officer Training Program (ROTP) at the Royal Military College, reassuring him that he could quit the program at any time, at no cost. After experiencing difficulties, the grievor asked to be removed from the program at the beginning of his second year of study and requested a transfer to the trade he had initially wanted to do. The grievor stated that, after a year's wait, the CAF confirmed to him that the trade in question was no longer available; however, he was not interested in the trades that were. The grievor therefore had to choose between a trade he was not interested in and commit himself for three years or reimburse the years of study he had not completed.

The Initial Authority did not make a decision within the prescribed time, and the grievor requested that this grievance be referred to the Final Authority (FA).

The Committee found that the grievor had already had difficulties in the year preceding his occupation transfer application and that he had asked to leave the ROTP at the very beginning of his second year of study, without intending to request to be released. The Committee stated that the grievor's situation warranted a policy exception. Moreover, while waiting to be transferred, the grievor worked for the CAF for over a year, and, consequently, this time should have been taken into consideration in the computation of what he had to reimburse.

The Committee recommended that the FA order that the grievor be exempted from obligatory service, or that his file be referred to the Minister of National Defence so that his debt be cancelled. In either case, the grievor should receive a reimbursement for the ROTP-related payments he has already made.