Review of the Terms of Service Offered to Re-Enrollees Prior to May 2005

Topic

Review of the Terms of Service Offered to Re-Enrollees Prior to May 2005

Case number

• 2018-012 (F&R date: 2019-03-18)

Issue

The Committee reviewed a number of cases where, prior to May 2005, re-enrollees were offered terms of service (ToS) by the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF), and many years later were told that they will not be entitled to the pension benefits (an immediate unreduced annuity) they were led to believe they would received upon completion of their ToS. The Committee found that this unfair situation results from an oversight and a miscomprehension of the interaction of those ToS with the amendments to pension legislation that would take effect on 1 March 2007.  The Committee also found that the affected CAF members have had to submit grievances to the Final Authority level to obtain resolution.

Recommendation

The Committee recommended that the Chief of the Defence Staff direct a review by Military Personnel Command (MilPersCom) of the circumstances of all Regular Force (Reg F) members who re-enrolled between 1 March 1997 and 28 February 2007, thus who may not have accrued 10 years of Reg F pensionable service prior to 1 March 2007.  The Committee also recommended that MilPersCom be given authority to administratively resolve the issue by replacing, where indicated, their ToS as to ensure re-enrollees are not denied the appropriate pension benefits.

Final Authority Decision

The final authority did not address the systemic recommendation.