• Thanks for stopping by. Logging in to a registered account will remove all generic ads. Please reach out with any questions or concerns.

R&Q and Seperation Allowance- family in US

jeffb

Sr. Member
Subscriber
Mentor
Reaction score
4
Points
330
There's a young Pte. at work who has recently been posted into the unit from St. Jean and he is being told that he is not entitled to SA and must pay R&Q (he's in training) as his spouse and children live in the United States. He was receiving SA and not paying R&Q while at St. Jean. Obviously, paying R&Q and not receiving SA is going to create a fair bit of financial hardship on this young father.

I am helping him to put together a memo but I was wondering if anyone else has found themselves in this position and how it was resolved? Alternatively, can anyone point me towards a specific reference that might be of help?

Any advice would be appreciated at this point.
 
Not sure if this counts or not, but according to the DCBA Aide Memoire:

6.3 Spouse Outside of the Country
CF members who enter into a recognized marital relationship (married or common-law) with a foreign national while posted outside of Canada are ineligible for TRSA benefits should the CF member repatriate without their spouse to Canada.

 
That does help but in this case the member was married before they joined the army. The bigger issue is the R&Q in this case.
 
Just curious, why is his family living in the States?
 
Contact St Jean - hopefully they have the policy where they didn't charge R&Q and paid SA.
 
by the way - is he on IR? If the CM has approved his IR then he should be able to get SA.  Maybe he didn't request IR when he was posted to you and just assumed that it would carry over from St Jean.
 
He's a Canadian who's parents were working in the American south (I can't recall what state) so he grew up there and got married. When he joined the Army, his family stayed in the US (where they are from) until such a time that they can move to be with him. I'm not sure if he's on IR but I'll check. Thanks for the tip on contacting St. Jean though. I'm still trying to get all of his paperwork to review it and get the relevant references before I start knocking on doors.
 
It's important that he be on IR - a quick check of his posting message will tell you. The posting message stating he is on IR is his authority to receive SA.  If he doesn't have this then you could save work by getting him to do a request (through chain) to the CM for approval of IR.  Should have been done in St Jean but my guess is it wasn't.  If he already has that then your clerks need a swift kick.
 
The quoted article from the DCBA Aide memoire would not apply in this case.  I would argue that he should be treated the same as any new member who has not yet been authorized to move his/her family.  If he's separated for service reasons, it really doesn't matter whether his family is in Newfoundland or Mississippi.
 
I agree fully - he was married prior to joining not after so the article does not apply.  The problem I can see is that he most likely did not request IR from the career manager.

Normal process is that you request IR from the career manager who will then send out your posting message indicating that you are on IR (if approved).  This message is the authority for you to receive SA.  Without it the SA request should be rejected.

I suspect that as he was getting it in St Jean he assumed it would carry over to his new posting.

The fix of course is to now send the request to the career manager and hopefully they will cut an amended posting message.
 
Back
Top