# 2024-238 Pay and Benefits, Pay, Recovery of Overpayment, Recovery of Overpayment/Debt Write-Off

Case summary

F&R Date: 2025-11-14

The grievor was informed that an audit had been conducted a year before which found that she had been overpaid by more than $20,000 since her voluntary occupation transfer a few years before. At that time, a systematic pay error was discovered but her pay was not identified as being wrong. As she found out later, the grievor disagrees with having to pay back the overpayment since she learned that this was not just an error specific to her pay but that a systemic failure caused the pay error. As redress, the grievor asked, among other things, an ex gratia payment to compensate for her financial losses, a meeting with a financial expert to explain the impact of the error, and legislative changes to remedy the issue.

The Director General Compensation and Benefits, acting as the Initial Authority (IA), rejected the grievance and determined that the grievor had submitted her grievance after the prescribed time limit and that the reasons given for the delay in filing were not justified.

The Committee determined that the grievor was not entitled to the amount that she was overpaid. The Committee found that the grievor's situation did not meet the conditions for any debt forgiveness set out in the Financial Administration Act. The Committee found that the recovery was appropriate and recommended that the Final Authority not grant the redress requested. However, the Committee recommended that the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) acknowledging in a meaningful manner the poor administration of her pay, although the CAF is not obligated to provide other remedy.