The Ontario government recently filed regulations under the Pension Benefits Act (the PBA), which implement funding changes for jointly sponsored pension plans (JSPPs) and certain public sector plans, as well as more general changes applicable to all defined benefit (DB) plans.
Continue Reading...The recent Federal Court decision in Canada (Attorney General) v. Aéroport de Québec inc. will serve as a reminder to employers that there may only be a relatively short window of time to challenge decisions rendered by pension regulators. Failure to act within that period can prevent an employer from successfully challenging the decision at a later time regardless of the merits of the claim.
This case involves a small federally regulated pension plan sponsored by Aéroport de Québec inc. (the Employer) that was terminated effective October 15, 2008. While examining the wind-up documentation, the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) came to the conclusion that the Employer had failed to exercise an appropriate level of diligence and care in connection with the investment of the plan assets as required by subsections 8(3), 8(4) and 8(4.1) of the Pension Benefits Standards Act, 1985 (the PBSA).
Continue Reading...The Ontario government’s reform of the law governing pension division on marriage breakdown appears to finally be moving forward with the release of long-awaited draft regulations.
Reform of the marriage breakdown provisions in the Ontario Pension Benefits Act (PBA) began with the passing of Bill 133, the Family Statute Law Amendment Act, 2009, on May 14, 2009. These legislative provisions cannot come into force, however, until the regulations needed to support the legislation are passed.
Under the current regime in Ontario, upon marriage breakdown a non-member spouse cannot access any portion of the member’s pension until the member terminates employment or retires. Under the new regime, if the member has not yet retired on the valuation date, the non-member spouse can receive a lump sum payment from the pension plan. If the valuation date is after the member’s retirement, then the non-member spouse can receive a portion of the member’s monthly pension payments.
Continue Reading...“We’re the IRS and we’re here to help.” International issues in employee retirement plans have presented many vexing issues that need to be addressed. And the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has been increasing its focus on international tax issues for some time now. So naturally, the Employee Plans division of the IRS is tackling this complex area with several key projects. If you are wondering about how the IRS’s focus on international tax compliance will impact retirement plans, then this free IRS webinar on May 26, 2011 (2:00p.m. EST) may be interesting to you.
The agenda for the IRS webinar includes:
Registration is required, using the link above.
Another recent decision of the Ontario Court of Appeal, in Ault v. Canada, has continued the trend in jurisprudence to hold plan administrators and others who are responsible for communicating with pension plan members to a very high fiduciary standard, including a legal duty to disclose accurate information about the implications of any elections made by members.
Continue Reading...Even though post-retirement benefit (PRB) plans are not the same as registered pension plans, and are not subject to pension standards legislation, the recent arbitration decision in Regional Municipality (Durham) v. Canadian Union of Public Employees, Local 1764 is an important reminder to both employers and employees that benefits under pension plans and PRB plans can often be linked, with the result that a decision to take a transfer of the lump sum value (commuted value) of pension benefits could render a former employee ineligible for PRBs.
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