A British Columbia court has dismissed an appeal of a Supreme Court of B.C. decision that upheld the B.C. Credit Union Employers’ Pension Plan’s choice to increase its normal retirement date to age 65 from age 62.
In its decision, the court found the appeal — brought by a group of plan members — alleged several errors, including an application to admit documents that weren’t admitted at the summary trial.
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“At the hearing of the appeal, the parties agreed that the court could be referred to and consider the documents in question in that they had been before the judge, he had ruled them to be inadmissible and that ruling was one of the issues raised on appeal in relation to the question of suitability,” wrote Justice Patrice Abrioux, in his decision.
According to the previous Supreme Court decision, the plan sponsor increased the retirement age to maintain the plan’s financial viability. A group of plan members challenged the increased retirement age, alleging the plan’s trustees breached their fiduciary duties and failed to warn members about a solvency deficit in the funding of the plan.
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