The grievor was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of a workplace incident – consequently, he was unable to return to his position as a helicopter maintenance engineer with the Department of Transport (“the employer”) and required accommodation in a new position – he required accommodation in St.John’s, Newfoundland, as he was not mobile – through his contacts in the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), the grievor was offered a one-year secondment, which was then extended – during the secondment, the grievor upgraded his skills by taking courses – his employer agreed to defray only a minor portion of the course costs, with the DFO picking up the remainder – the grievor then obtained a three-year secondment to the Canadian Coast Guard and continued to pursue training in conflict resolution as an alternate career, enrolling in a Master of Arts program at Royal Roads University at his own expense, although the employer did, after initially refusing, agree to reimburse his expenses – when it decided to reallocate resources, the employer abolished the only position for which the grievor was qualified and for which he was able to perform the functions – the employer extended the grievor’s job-search period and advised him that it would offer to pay up to six months of his salary to an employer that would offer him a permanent position, but nothing materialized – the employer then looked into creating a position for the grievor, but Health Canada deemed him unfit for it – the grievor was then sent home until he found his present permanent position with the DFO in conflict resolution – he filed a grievance and sought the reinstatement of the sick and annual leave credits that he had used while at home, looking for work – the adjudicator held that the efforts that the employer made to market the grievor fell short of what was required by its duty to accommodate – no evidence indicated that the employer informed other employers about its offer of six months of salary – the employer could have made more efforts to market the grievor before he had to use his leave – after hitting a wall finding alternate employment but not yet reaching the point of undue hardship, the employer was best suited to bearing the burden.

Grievance allowed in part.