Warum kommt dieser Fehler/Warnung (PIC18F14K50)?

Mit Ampersand kommt die gleiche Warnung: &tmrGATEcounter.

Danke

Warning [2054] suspicious pointer conversion


Code:
static volatile unsigned short tmrGATEcounter;

void ReadEEdata8(unsigned char *dest, unsigned char addr) {
  	EECON1bits.CFGS = 0;     //0: program memory / EEPROM memory 
	EECON1bits.EEPGD = 0;	 //0: EEPROM memory
	EEADR = addr;            //Adresse laden Low -Byte.
	EEADRH = 0;              //Adresse laden High-Byte.
	EECON1bits.RD = 1;       //Lesezyklus einleiten.
	*dest = EEDATA;          //EEPROM-Daten => Ziel-Variable.
}

void ReadEEdata16(unsigned char *dest, unsigned char addr) {
	unsigned char *p = (unsigned char *)dest;
	ReadEEdata8(p++, addr++);
	ReadEEdata8(p, addr);

//-------------------------------------------------------------

void InitVars (void) {
    ReadEEdata16 (tmrGATEcounter, 2);   //Time aus EEPROM laden.
}