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Allowances - Post Living Differential (PLD) [MERGED]

This is a perfect example as to why the Fin and Admin clerks should have never been merged. Yes mistakes did happen, but where less common.

If you had a problem and went to the OR, the first question was "Admin or Pay?" Then you went to the specific clerk that most times knew the regulation with out actually having to search the DIN or PAM's.

Never to late to change some past mistakes. If we can change the way back for Army officers Ranks, we can at least make a change back that would be beneficiall to the CAF.
 
Didnt help that so many of the Fin clks pulled the plug and most of the training is geared towards admin.  When it comes to fin it is hard to find anyone that actually knows anything other than what the computer tells them.  Over the last 10 years I have tested many clerks with one simple question - if the computer system went down and you had to calculate a mbrs pay how would you do it.  Everytime the answer was - I would look at what they received last pay and issue that to them.  Next question - how would you do that when the system is down?  deers, headlights.    I get weird looks because I have an adding machine and use it, including running a ribbon on occassions.  What a silly and quaint idea.

We certainly need more fin training but in all honesty I am not sure that would have helped in this case.  No matter what training you have if you are not going to check a page and confirm that the mbr is within the boundary it doesn't matter.
 
Does anyone have a current link to a map of the PLD zones for Toronto?  I've found a few olders posts but none the links are active and google is coming up short.

Thanks.
 
captloadie said:
There are single quarters and RHU's available. Up until this month, all single quarters were with room mates. There is now the option to get your own room for an extra $210/ mth. There are at least 300 single members living in RHUs, doubling and tripling up by choice. Rent for RHUs runs between 900-1500 I believe, and is about 100-150% below market value, so the rates increase annually and whenever someone moves out. The average house price in Cold Lake is about 365K, with recent members posted in saying they couldn't fine decent family housing for under 400K. Rents are ridiculous in town. They range from $800/mth for an illegal apartment (1 room in the basement with some shared access), to 2400+/mth for any type of house/condo. Add into that the additional cost of living (more for groceries, daycare, vehicle/home maintenance) and you quickly get the picture.

Also, there is a large gap in the quality of life between the different MOCs. Not everyone is a pilot or gets spec pay. A lot of the support trades (read Log), and DND civilians are trying to get by on significantly less, and honestly I'm not sure how single members, or one income families are doing it.
Disclaimer- I realise this may be an old post, but whatever, this issue is hitting particularly close to home with the "we will send you wherever even if you have to claim bankruptcy"

Starters,
A posting is not a course, the fact that members are cohabitating in the same room is beyond me. Thats ridiculous. They want family to become a huge part of Military life now. Cant start dating, living, being with someone if you have a roommate, IN the same damn room. There becomes a point when someone wants to start a family, find a wife, Cold Lake is bad enough for that possibility now, I cant believe it if its "hey baby come over while my roommate watches."

I more then understand the need and the push to get Military members living off of the local economy. However, low cost PMQ housing is the best way to do it. You have members save money by living in AFFORDABLE housing, those with the families bank coin, save and buy at their next posting taking advantage of IRP Benefits. You can not do that overpaying for a house that has horrible insulation. I do not know what the food cost is etc there, I can not comment on that, I do know how much a medium coffee costs, and that brings me to my next point; 

Cold Lake is not the only problem, Look at soaring gas prices in Quebec, been steady at what for 1.45- 1.50 for a good three weeks to a month now. The PMQs are dead in the middle of St Jean and Montreal. those travelling either way are burning through fuel like no tomorrow. Units Schedules are different to alleviate travel time so that takes out the possiblity of Car Pooling,
There is no relative difference in the cost of an Apartment on the South Shore, or on the island. The only difference is is the travel time to and from work, and the related fuel costs. South Shore for whatever reason recieves less PLD, 319, on the Island its 505. (on the island you get taxed down to 280, so you receive a benefit and get taxed HEAVY on that benefit for getting that benefit)
Add in the ridiculous tax rate- for what?? nothing, I have yet to see any benefits of those taxes that came with two provincial elections, concrete portions of highways falling onto cars, and people burning the Canadian Flag.
I am all for a Canadian Wide Military Equivalent Tax Rate, or you are taxed out of your home province where you enlisted.

FYI- Tax Rate wise, a quebec medium Coffee is 20 cents more.

Before I get bombarded here,
I know we are paid well (some trades need boosts for sure). But that pay doesnt always work out to what we need. The cost on the families that are seperated because they simply can not afford to live together in those provinces, the fuel, the vehicle maintenance, flights etc. Adds up. IT forces alot of families of good soldiers, airmen and seaman to release.

The CAF used to thrive as a whole with the close knit PMQ community. Canex thrived, Bases Economies thrived, there was a sense of neighbourhood in them. CAF needs that, especially for the Junior Ranks.
 
How does this changed policy apply to those posted back to the geographic area they joined from?

Say a member enrolled in Edmonton, was posted to Shilo and then posted back to Edmonton, are they entitled to PLD, or do they not get it because that's where they enrolled from?
 
I have a subordinate who was posted to our base that has PLD and although he bought a house in the area he didnt get PLD.  He claims he filled out the forms but he never got it and didnt follow it up.  Once it came up around the lunch room I had him follow up and he had to resubmit the forms but now they say he will only get it from the time he submitted the forms, not the date he got posted here and bought his house.  He's out about a years worth of PLD as a rsult.  I'm unable to find a policy and all the clerk will tell him is "thats the rule".  I'm going to get a bit more engaged to try to assist themember but does anyone have any similar experience to draw from and is he actually restricted from claming "back PLD"?
 
Ask the clerk to show the reference that authorizes this.  There is only one CBI for PLD that I know of. 

http://www.forces.gc.ca/en/about-policies-standards-benefits/ch-205-officer-ncm-allowance-rates.page#sec-45

Print this off, go the OR with him and ask them to show you in the CBI where it says that.  If they still don't see the light, a memo up the CofC would be where I go next.  Informal might work, but I would bet 2 months pay that if the mbr has to submit a grievance, he will win it.

I'm wondering if this BOR is Hfx (based on my own experiences and that of a few others I knew).  I found that admin org to be the worst I'd ever dealt with.  Sorry to anyone who works there but its the truth.  I often knew admin policy better than the person I was dealing with and there were multiple screw-ups I then had to submit memo's to correct and chase my tail. 

FWIW, when I was posted to Shearwater in 2007 or so, the Sgt I was working for had never received PLD, actually didn't know what we were talking about.  He went to the WOR and asked about it.  They audited his pay and sure enough, he had never received PLD and had been posted to the Halifax PLDA since PLD had come to be.  Required paperwork was done and the next month, the mbr received PLD for the entire period, minus taxes and it was quite a bit of $.  Obviously he wasn't penalized for not receiving it when he should have.

If I were this member, I wouldn't hesitate to submit a grievance if this isn't resolved with common sense by the BOR CofC. 
 
Schindler's Lift said:
I have a subordinate who was posted to our base that has PLD and although he bought a house in the area he didnt get PLD.  He claims he filled out the forms but he never got it and didnt follow it up.  Once it came up around the lunch room I had him follow up and he had to resubmit the forms but now they say he will only get it from the time he submitted the forms, not the date he got posted here and bought his house.  He's out about a years worth of PLD as a rsult.  I'm unable to find a policy and all the clerk will tell him is "thats the rule".  I'm going to get a bit more engaged to try to assist themember but does anyone have any similar experience to draw from and is he actually restricted from claming "back PLD"?

He's entitled to the benefit from the date he arrived in the PLD area for duty and NOT based on when the forms/request were submitted.  It's a simple entry in to CCPS, a couple clicks and the system will pay it all the way back to the effective date.
 
RADOPSIGOPACISSOP said:
How does this changed policy apply to those posted back to the geographic area they joined from?

Say a member enrolled in Edmonton, was posted to Shilo and then posted back to Edmonton, are they entitled to PLD, or do they not get it because that's where they enrolled from?

Enrollment Geographic Area does not matter, its where the CAF sends you.

There should be an geographic area specific team, say a week long study, that is conducted once a year, in winter time to see how much each base costs to live/work at.
-rent
-food
-taxes
-fuel
-utilities
With the treasury board being more preceptive to the input, as opposed to a bunch of red tape bullshit and review.

I will say this again.

There is no reason why one Cpl in one posting should have a better quality of life then Cpl in another posting because the latter drew the short straw. They should have the exact same take home every payday, Taxes included. You dont do this you breed a culture of Haves and Have nots.
 
upandatom said:
Enrollment Geographic Area does not matter, its where the CAF sends you.

There should be an geographic area specific team, say a week long study, that is conducted once a year, in winter time to see how much each base costs to live/work at.
-rent
-food
-taxes
-fuel
-utilities
With the treasury board being more preceptive to the input, as opposed to a bunch of red tape bullshit and review.

I will say this again.

There is no reason why one Cpl in one posting should have a better quality of life then Cpl in another posting because the latter drew the short straw. They should have the exact same take home every payday, Taxes included. You dont do this you breed a culture of Haves and Have nots.

I agree with you on this regarding costs of living such as heating and accomodations. However, an airport in the civie world that has very few planes going through it usually pays less for an ATC, however with the Forces you get the same pay no matter what work load you have.

I'm currently on PAT awaiting my course in September and I'm in Comox. The cost of living is higher, however the weather and location is 10x's better than that of say Greenwood. However, in Greenwood you are saving a lot of money on lodging. Does the guy in Comox deserve to get more PLD to make it more even with the guy in Greenwood?

What I'm trying to say is that I have no clue how they can rate a location based on just money spent?
 
Schindler's Lift said:
I have a subordinate who was posted to our base that has PLD and although he bought a house in the area he didnt get PLD.  He claims he filled out the forms but he never got it and didnt follow it up.  Once it came up around the lunch room I had him follow up and he had to resubmit the forms but now they say he will only get it from the time he submitted the forms, not the date he got posted here and bought his house.  He's out about a years worth of PLD as a rsult.  I'm unable to find a policy and all the clerk will tell him is "thats the rule".  I'm going to get a bit more engaged to try to assist themember but does anyone have any similar experience to draw from and is he actually restricted from claming "back PLD"?

When I was in Edmonton, I wasn't getting PLD (paperwork got lost in the shuffle somewhere between 1VP and 3 VP).  When I was going through my release, it all got sorted out, and I received 8 months "back PLD", along with getting my rations/quarters paid back for the same period.

Lesson I learned, always check your pay stubs.  I hadn't run into any monetary difficulties because I still had money in the bank from Afghanistan.
 
RADOPSIGOPACISSOP said:
How does this changed policy apply to those posted back to the geographic area they joined from?

Say a member enrolled in Edmonton, was posted to Shilo and then posted back to Edmonton, are they entitled to PLD, or do they not get it because that's where they enrolled from?

You are entitled to PLD based on the location you are "posted" to.  Location of enrolment, no longer has any bearing on this.  At one time it did but it doesn't any longer.  The only change was to the "interpretation" of the policy and  how it was being applied to NEW enrolments while they were attending BMQ.

So if you happened to live in and were enrolled in Toronto, went to BMQ in St Jean, then went to Borden for QL3 training and happened to be posted back to Toronto, you're entitled to PLD.  Regardless of marital status nor whether or not you relocated DHG&E.
 
TB, needs to get its head out of its Ass.

Dragging feet on matter such as this is ridiculous. (When it deals with peoples money and pay, sure as shit should be handled ASAP)
(FYI for those that dont know, the ACISS side of the house has been waiting approximately 3 years for word about spec pay, while still doing the exact same job, because of TB and the beurocratic bullshit pertaining to it)

WRT to PLD,
There needs to be a location orientated team, based in that area/base/wing, that takes into account the local economical pressures and the local NON Military populace and the cost of living. A brief review done every year by that team that interviews, analyzes, and looks at the cost to live in that area, which includes housing, taxes, school etc.

I know the Income of the civilian population in Cold Lake is higher then the average military income. No way should military members be taking second jobs for the need to, to pay heating bills, etc.

The volunteers would have to be from all walks of military life, Single, Married, Divorced, etc.  Service couples, Single income and dual income homes.

Dont take into account a gucci posting as opposed to a could be bad one (Comox/Cold Lake or Trenton, Bagotville)

Look at the cost of that run of the mill 3 bedroom house for that family in Comox, Compare it to the cost of an equivalent (Quality equivalent as well, dont just be looking at the shittiest houses on the market) in trenton, in Ottawa, in Petawawa, wherever, do proper cost comparisons.

and then in turn, Look at the cost of the money the members are paying if they are seperated from family, ie single fathers away from their children etc.

This all needs to be taken into consideration. Thats how you would compare cost difference,
 
Feel for you on the Spec pay issue. Mar. Eng.have been going the same process about three years as well. The PLD has been "under review" forever. Its just a matter of time before its gone though, in my opinion. TB can cherry pick which directives apply to DND, specifically CAF.2
 
Had a similar thing happen to myself upon retirment and attempting to recover closing costs. I was out about $29,000 give or take. I was frustrated at first, looked to blame, but solely in the end the problem lay upon the guy in the mirror. When allowances change it was my duty to read those silky sop posted everywhere.
 
:goodpost:


I do believe that that would be the current map. 
 
Just received a posting message for Petawawa. Can someone tell me if Pet gets PLD? I don't see it listed in CBI 205.45, unless it falls under Ottawa. Thanks!
 
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