dangerboy said:
Here is what the leave manual says: Special Leave (Relocation) shall not be granted:
•to a new enrollee on Leave Without Pay (LWOP) who is awaiting recruit or basic training courses as the member has not yet attained career status; or
•to a member who has just completed the recruit or basic training course but has not yet attained career status as defined in CBI 205.42 (moved to CBI 208.849), Posting Allowance. (and the reference:
http://www.forces.gc.ca/en/caf-community-benefits/leave-policy.page )
I would say you would not get the two day to take care of admin but should get travel time. Best advice check with your orderly room.
This is a situation where, in our office, I directed that we do things that I
might be wrong about, but that I think adheres to the spirit of the benefit.
First, let me start by saying that I think they need to divide Special Leave (Relocation) into two new sections, one for "Posting/Attach Posting", and one for "operations/training exercises, career courses or incremental tasking".
When you read the section 5.10 Special Leave (Relocation), it just sounds very much like it talking specifically about postings/attach postings, and includes courses/exes/taskings as an after though. This causes confusion because some of the sub-paras really do seem to only pertain to the one, but not the other. Para 5.10.13 is one of those sub-paras, where I believe it really referring to official postings/attach postings, and not exercises/taskings/courses, where the CO has
the discretion to grant Special Leave (relocation).
Now I admit, I could be entirely wrong in my interpretation of the written word of the regulation; I think it's a little hard. So, my 2nd justification comes from the spirit of the benefit. Why do we grant special leave relocation for courses and exercises, and why is it at the CO's discretion? And why would they not grant this benefit to those not MOS qualified? (and I'll mention here that NWOs don't get MOS qualified until right before their promotion to Lt(N), which for me was 7 years into my career; do you think I never got Special leave (relocation)?).
For a new recruit, or someone recently finished basic, they probably live in shacks somewhere, and are young with few responsibilities. In these cases, sure, do they really need the extra time off? Maybe not. But that's why it's in the CO's discretion! We have members like OP who aren't young with few responsibilities; they have a house and kids. They actually might need a day or two to sort their shit out before they go away for 6 months. Ergo, CO's discretion.
Anyways, I could be wrong, but I think OP should get it, and if my office was processing it, we would give it to him.
