Sample Cases
Category: Posting
Special Delivery
Two members, who were expecting twins, ran into some difficulties when they tried to arrange to be posted closer together.
The expecting mother’s home unit was in western Canada, while the expecting father was posted in Ontario. He applied for a quality of life posting, as well as parental leave so he could be present when his children were born. Since one of the criteria for a quality of life posting is common-law status, both members filled out the necessary applications to obtain this classification. Her CO was quick to approve the common-law status request. His CO, however, was not nearly as forthcoming; the member’s request was held and the parental leave was denied. Worried that he would not be present for the birth of his children, the member contacted the Office.
An investigator contacted the father’s CO in Ontario. The CO indicated he would not recognize common-law status until after the babies were born. The investigator also contacted the career manager of the member to ensure that there was a posting available closer to the soon-to-be mother, and the response was optimistic. Then the issue was discussed with Director Law Human Resources, to establish if indeed it was required for both service members to apply for common-law status. The investigator asked if only one application would be sufficient since it included affidavits from both individuals. The answer was “probably”, but the issue had never been raised before.
In the meantime, the twins were born, and the father’s CO was still hesitant to make a decision. The investigator once again contacted the CO. Finally, faced with all the information the investigator had gathered, he agreed to recognize the common-law status and to process both the quality of life posting and the parental leave. The member left for western Canada shortly thereafter on parental leave for a period of seven months, with a commitment from his career manager that he would be posted with his spouse at the end of the leave period.
Due to the investigation, staff at Director Law Human Resources agreed to review whether two applications are necessary for recognition of common-law status.
