Grievance Case Summary - G-321

In 1994, the RCMP created a classification committee to determine whether the merger of administrative services at Division "A" with those at headquarters would have an impact on the position classification of the administrative services officer. The classification committee concluded that the classification was not affected and this decision was grieved by the member occupying the position at that time (the Grievor). The grievance was rejected at Level I and then presented at Level II. The ERC then recommended that the grievance be allowed but the RCMP Commissioner, acting as the Level II Adjudicator, did not accept this recommendation. The decision was nevertheless overturned by the Federal Court, which ordered a new evaluation in 2001. This evaluation was conducted by a new classification committee, which arrived at the same conclusions as the first committee had seven years earlier. In the meantime, the Grievor retired from the RCMP. He presented a grievance against the second committee's decision, but his grievance was deemed inadmissible at Level I as he was no longer a member of the RCMP.

The grievance is admissible because the decision challenged pertains to the classification of the position at the time the incumbent held it. The Act requires only that the decision challenged by a grievance pertains to the rights of a person as a member of the RCMP and it is not necessary for the person to still be a member of the RCMP when the grievance is presented. Moreover, the explanations provided by the second committee in support of its evaluation do not inspire confidence that it properly understood the essential competencies of the position and how they differ from those required for other RCMP positions classified at the same level or a higher level.

The grievance should be allowed.

The Commissioner partially agreed with the Committee. He agreed that the decision of the classification committee was a continuity of the first decision but did not agree with the recommendation of the Committee on the merits and therefore denied the grievance.