Right to Grieve – Regulations Made by the Governor in Council

Topic

Right to Grieve – Regulations Made by the Governor in Council

Case number

• 2010-001 (F&R Date: 2010–06–03)

Description

A number of cases have been referred to the Board in which the Director General Compensation and Benefits (DGCB), acting as the Initial Authority, dismissed grievances on the grounds that the Compensation and Benefit Instructions (CBI) are Treasury Board (TB) regulations and that, consequently, a CF member could not dispute them through a grievance, in accordance with Queen's Regulations and Orders (QR&O) 7.01(1) – Right to Grieve. This paragraph reiterates subsections 29(1) and 29(2) of the National Defense Act (NDA), which stipulate that “there is no right to grieve in respect of … a matter or case prescribed by the Governor in Council in regulations.”

The Board firstly pointed out that TB regulations are not regulations made by the Governor in Council. In addition, the Board indicated that the DGCB’s interpretation of QR&O 7.01(1) is erroneous. This subsection does not prevent CF members from filing grievances against matters governed by regulations made by the Governor in Council. Rather, it enables the Governor in Council to make regulations excluding specific matters or cases from the grievance process. There is no regulation made by the Governor in Council that excludes matters or cases governed by the CBI on the grievance process.

Recommendation

The Board recommended that the CDS inform the DGCB of his error in order to improve the effectiveness of the grievance process and standardize the interpretation of subsection 29(2) of the NDA.

Final Authority Decision

Although he agreed in principle, the CDS did not follow the recommendation to inform the DGCB  on the ground that since the IA was included in the distribution list for the decision, he was automatically informed.