August 1, 1997
25.4.119
The grievor sought reimbursement for actual and reasonable expenses for boarding costs for weekends for her daughter during 1996-97.
The child had been studying at the academy in question since 1994. The academy offered the only seven-day Francophone boarding school. The grievor decided to place her 15 year old child with a family on weekends during the 1996-97 school year. The cost of boarding with the family was $3,600. The department authorized a $2,444 refund.
The bargaining agent representative maintained that the grievor had no choice but to keep the child in a family on the weekends because the quality of the academy's boarding was not comparable to that of other colleges, especially the old, established Anglophone colleges. A letter from the academy confirmed that it could not offer the family infrastructure essential to the development of the few children (between the ages of 9 and 18) who were boarding there on Saturdays and Sundays.
The representative explained that, according to DSE 34.04(b), the deputy head can authorize the payment of actual eligible tuition fees up to the amount established by the Deputy Minister, Foreign Affairs - an amount of $22,500 - for education in a private boarding school in Canada.
The representative stated that the grievor was not claiming that the department was required under the Foreign Services Directives to reimburse private boarding costs for the child. What the grievor was claiming was that the Directives were silent on this question. The bargaining agent representative noted that the total cost for the academy and for the weekends was $12,000 a year, whereas the department authorized payment of up to $22,500 for the better organized Anglophone boarding schools. For the grievor, this was, therefore, a matter of equity.
The departmental representative stated that, at the department's request, the academy had agreed to reduce its tuition fees by $2,444 since the student was not staying at the school on weekends. The department had authorized, therefore, that the grievor be reimbursed $2,444 towards the actual boarding costs for the weekend. This amount was equal to the cost of boarding at the academy on weekends. The representative noted that the department was still under the dollar limit established by the Deputy Minister, for education in a private boarding school in Canada as set out in article 34.04.
The representative maintained that the grievor had made a personal decision when she decided to place her daughter with a family on weekends. The department had no obligation to reimburse the grievor for her actual costs.
The Executive Committee considered and agreed with the Foreign Service Directives Committee report which concluded that given that the department had authorized a reimbursement equivalent to the cost of weekend boarding at the school in question, the grievor had been treated within the intent of FSD 34 . However, the Committee also agreed that the department needed to address the issue of inadequate boarding services and facilities of the French language institutions in Canada versus the English language institutions.
The grievance was denied.