Grievance Case Summary - G-213

After being transferred, a member realized that the linguistic profile of his new position was unilingual whereas his former position had been designated bilingual. The member asked the RCMP to change the linguistic profile of the new position on the grounds that before his transfer he had been given confirmation that the position would be bilingual. In view of the RCMP's inaction concerning his situation, the member presented a grievance requesting that the linguistic profile of his new position be modified and that a retroactive payment of the bilingualism bonus be awarded to him. The member alleged essentially that the transfer had been effected incorrectly.

The Level I officer determined that the grievance consisted of two parts: the first concerned the transfer per se, and the second concerned the RCMP's failure to take action with respect to the member's situation. He determined that with respect to the first part of the grievance, the grievance was untimely because the transfer had occurred several months before the grievance was presented. As well, he dismissed the second part of the grievance, also on the grounds of untimeliness because he considered that a decision had not been made about the member's situation at the time that the grievance was presented.

On June 29, 1998, the ERC issued its findings and recommendations. The Committee found that the subject of the grievance was not the RCMP's failure to take action to change the linguistic profile of the position, but rather the member's having been transferred to what was a unilingual position. On that basis, the Committee found that the member's grievance pertained to staffing. Since section 36 of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Regulations does not give the Committee jurisdiction to examine staffing issues, the Committee declined to rule on the merits of the grievance, leaving this determination to the Commissioner.