# 2022-197 Pay and Benefits, Meal Expenses

Case summary

F&R Date: 2024-02-09

The grievor contested the cessation of her meal allowance after her position was transferred from Latvia to Belgium. The grievor referred to a Chief of the Defence Staff decision in her previous grievance, as evidence of her entitlement to the meal allowance, stating that there was no difference between her posting conditions in Latvia and Belgium during her one-year assignment in Europe, since both were unaccompanied, and she could not store her household goods and effects. As redress, the grievor requested to be paid the meal allowance benefits for the period she was posted to Belgium. 

There is no Initial Authority analysis or decision on file. Director General Compensation and Benefits did not meet the deadline to render a decision and the grievor requested that her file be referred to the Final Authority (FA).

The Committee reviewed the Compensation and Benefits Instruction for the Canadian Forces Chapter 10, Military Foreign Service Instruction as well as the FA Decision in Committee file 2019-063 and found that the conclusions of the FA in 2019-063 dealing with her time in Latvia also applied to the grievor's situation in Belgium. 

The Committee therefore recommended to the FA to afford the grievor redress by directing she be paid the meal allowance benefits at the appropriate rate for the duration of her posting to Belgium.