A newly hired business graduate, predicted by senior managers of a major bank to have significant potential, left the organization after one year. He sued for harassment and bullying, saying among other things that he had a manager who set out to prove he had limited potential and frequently assigned him impossible tasks and deadlines, […]
Employment contracts often contain clauses limiting an employee’s entitlement upon termination to the minimum entitlements under the Employment Standards Act or any other amount the employer and employee have agreed to. However, if the clauses violate the act in any way, courts may not enforce them and the employee will then be entitled to common […]
A number of employers and benefits plans were in court this week in support of the Canadian Elevator Industry Welfare Trust Fund’s appeal of a January 2017 decision by the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission ordering it to cover a member’s medical marijuana prescription. In the latest development in the case, Skinner v. Board of Trustees […]
While a Patented Medicine Prices Review Board hearing panel has ordered Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. to lower the price of the drug Soliris, it has rejected a bid by the Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association to make the company reimburse private payers for the overcharges. “Employers have borne the brunt of the overly high pricing, so […]
A Quebec Superior Court decision refusing to give priority to pension contribution deficiencies in the context of a mining company’s restructuring has ramped up the uncertainty around the windup of Sears Canada Inc.’s defined benefit plan. Earlier this month, Justice Stephen Hamilton ruled that the deemed trust that gives priority to pension claims under Newfoundland […]
An Ontario judge has sentenced a Toronto firefighter to six months in jail for benefits fraud. Bradley Evaschuk, 48, joined the Toronto fire service in 1996. During the period between February 2009 and October 2013, according to a sentencing ruling last week, Evaschuk submitted 23 fraudulent health benefits claims and 300 forged invoices, seeking payment […]
The headlines this summer emphasized the negative: Almost half of employers aren’t ready for the legalization of recreational marijuana when it takes effect next year. That’s hardly a surprise. What is somewhat surprising is the fact that, according to a survey conducted by the Human Resources Professionals Association, 54 per cent of the members who […]
Pension plan administrators should get used to dealing with requests for their actuarial documents while lawyers duke it out over just how confidential they are, according to a pension lawyer. Natasha Monkman, a pension lawyer at Hicks Morley Hamilton Stewart Storie LLP, says plan administrators have traditionally viewed financial information filed with their provincial regulators […]
A number of lawyers from Hicks Morley Hamilton Stewart Storie LLP have formed a new boutique law firm dedicated to pension, benefits and executive compensation The firm, Brown Mills Klinck Prezioso LLP, will offer a suite of services, including insolvencies and corporate transactions; plan design and restructuring; defined benefit plan de-risking; pension plan administration, governance […]
Plan administrators are eyeing the Bank of Canada’s current system that holds unclaimed bank balances for individuals as a possible solution to dealing with missing pension plan members. As the federal Department of Finance launches a consultation on modernizing the bank’s program, law firm Blake Cassels & Graydon LLP sees promise in extending its approach to […]