Canadian politicians, public health officials and chief executive officers have all urged Canadians to practice social distancing in a bid to “flatten the curve” of the coronavirus pandemic. Many global technology companies, including Amazon.com Inc., Facebook Inc., Google and Twitter, ramped up work-from-home programs last week. And Ottawa-headquartered Shopify Inc. has emerged as a leader […]
As employers prepare to prevent against the spread of the coronavirus, issues of workplace and public safety will likely take precedent over privacy concerns. Employers have duties under provincial occupational health and safety laws to take all reasonable precautions to protect workers, communicate information about potential hazards and train employees on how to deal with […]
The Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association has been conducting weekly calls with its members since mid-January to discuss issues around the ongoing coronavirus crisis, including how insurers can develop messaging and policies to communicate to plan sponsors. “We’ve basically been facilitating weekly calls to say, ‘OK, we have a very fluid situation.’ It changes […]
The British Columbia Supreme Court has ruled that a clause in an employment agreement mandating arbitration as a way of resolving wrongful dismissal disputes doesn’t illegally contract out of provincial employment standards legislation. The ruling departs from Ontario jurisprudence that’s currently under appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada. “The B.C. judge was clearly looking […]
The issue of whether long-term disability claims are arbitrable or matters for the court, which has plagued Ontario’s hospital sector for over a quarter of a century, is on its way to the Supreme Court of Canada. “The current state of the law, which denies employees seeking long-term disability benefits under insurance policies issued pursuant […]
The Ontario Court of Appeal has ruled that Bell and its related companies, including Bell Canada, Bell Media Inc., Expertech Network Installation Inc. and Bell Mobility Inc., have been miscalculating the cost-of-living adjustment due to their 35,000 pensioners since 2017. The judgment could cost the telecommunications company up to $100 million and signal the beginning of […]
A former federal government employee is launching a proposed $10-million class action lawsuit against Sun Life over how the insurer calculated cost-of-living increases on long-term disability benefits payments. The claim, filed in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice by Ottawa law firm Connolly Obagi LLP, alleges Sun Life willfully miscalculated the cost-of-living increases incorrectly for Giulia Belec, the […]
Quebec’s closed the door on the idea of forming a pension benefits guarantee fund to protect members in retirement plans sponsored by employers that have declared bankruptcy. Finance Minister Éric Girard said Tuesday that no such measure would be included in the provincial budget set to be released March 10, reported Radio-Canada. In explanation, Girard […]
While it isn’t Canadian, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission certainly has plenty of power to affect assets held by Canadian pension plans. A number of proposed rule changes recently brought forward by the SEC are raising Canadian institutional investors’ eyebrows. The Pension Investment Association of Canada submitted two letters to the SEC addressing potential changes related to […]
The Ontario Court of Appeal has ruled that a wrongfully dismissed employee could take advantage of the stock options and restricted share units that vested during the reasonable notice period, despite language in the governing plans that cancelled unvested units on termination. The case, between IMAX Corp. and a former executive named Larry O’Reilly, represented at least […]