Hicks Morley Hamilton Stewart Storie LLP has appointed Stephanie Kalinowski as the new chair of its pension, benefits and executive compensation group. With nearly 20 years of experience, she has recently been focusing on pension reform in various jurisdictions, target-benefit plans, plan mergers and asset transfers. Kalinowski is also chair of the Ontario regional council […]
An arbitrator has ordered Yellow Pages Group Co. to pay an employee $102,000 for breaching a collective agreement and an additional $15,000 for a Human Rights Code violation after finding the company discriminated against the worker when it refused to grant a voluntary severance package because of her relative youth and instead favoured older, “pension eligible” […]
The third episode of Benefits Canada‘s new podcast, Human Resourcefulness, looks at the role of the human resources manager through Toby Flenderson of The Office. Our experts are blunt — the passive and indiscrete Toby isn’t great at his job. But what do you do when a Toby walks off the screen and into your office? Priya Sarin […]
While the motion by Sears Canada Inc. retirees to force a windup of the company’s pension plan is in line with a significant body of jurisprudence from the Supreme Court of Canada, that’s not to say there’s any certainty of success. Ultimately, the decision is in the hands of an Ontario Superior Court judge, who enjoys wide discretion. […]
From encouraging open discussions around mental health in the workplace to reintegrating workers once they return from disability leave, a lot of information is available on how to support employees. But what are employers’ responsibilities before they even hire someone? “Certainly, mental-health conditions can be a concern for an employer if it impacts on the […]
The second episode of Benefits Canada’s new podcast, Human Resourcefulness, continues this week with a look at The Office‘s Dwight Schrute and Jim Halpert. Dwight cares a lot about his company, but his suspicion and lack of humour make him a difficult colleague to work with. Jim seems like a great guy to grab a beer with […]
Employers in the United States are increasingly requiring employees with same-sex partners to legally marry in order for their partner to receive health-care benefits, according to data from the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans. The organization compared data from two surveys, one published in 2016 and one in 2015, following the June 2015 U.S. […]
This summer, Benefits Canada is launching a new podcast, Human Resourcefulness, that looks at problems presented in fictional workplaces and asks experts how they’d advise those companies to respond. The first episode looks at Michael Scott, regional manager at paper sales company Dunder Mifflin, from the U.S. version of the TV show The Office. Benefits Canada‘s Sara Tatelman and […]
Former Sears Canada Inc. employees who opt to take the commuted value of their defined benefit pension are facing an immediate 19 per cent reduction in their entitlements. According to an update to former employees from their legal counsel, Koskie Minsky LLP, the reduction is a result of the underfunding in the Sears pension plan. As […]
In a reminder to employers to be diligent about using their own disability management processes before terminating an employee, an Alberta arbitrator has ruled against a company that fired a worker suspected of being dishonest about his condition. The case, Tolko Industries Ltd. v. United Steelworkers, Local 1-207, involved a lumber mill in High Level, Alta. that […]