Use of Protection or Transition Measures when Policy Changes are Announced

Topic

Use of Protection or Transition Measures when Policy Changes are Announced

Case number

• 2015-106 (F&R date: 2015-07-31)

Issue

Policy changes announced in Canadian Forces General Messages (CANFORGEN) 145/12 contained no protection or transition measures to minimize the impact on Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) members. The omission has led to unexpected financial hardship for some members.

Recommendation

The Committee recommended that in the future, significant and negative changes to benefits and allowances be implemented in a transitional manner, affording a measure of protection to those CAF members who have taken important decisions or made significant financial commitments based on a specific policy.

Final Authority decision

The Final Authority (FA), the Chief of the Defence Staff did not agree with the Committee's recommendation to grant redress by seeking Treasury Board (TB) approval to retroactively change the benefit, as well as to review all similar cases. The FA concluded that changes to the Canadian Forces Integrated Relocation Program were brought as part of the CAF's effort at deficit reduction, unfortunately without reflection on the second order effects. He stated that with a number of benefits having moved from the custom to the personalized envelope, the latter most often being solely comprised the Posting Allowance (PA), this resulted in the PA being used to offset moving expenses rather than its stated intent of providing an extra benefit for the disruption that relocation causes. As such, the FA agreed with the Committee that reimbursement of the high expenses related to moving pets OUTCAN should not come from the personalized envelope. He directed the Chief of Military Personnel develop a TB submission to rectify the issue going forward.