A group of former municipal police officers who were recruited by the Ontario Provincial Police have launched multi-million-dollar lawsuits against the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System and the Ontario Pension Board over alleged losses suffered during their pension transfers.
As part of their moves to the OPP from various municipal police forces — including the Hamilton Police Service, Peel Regional Police and the Toronto Police Service — the officers had to switch their pensions from the OMERS to the Public Service Pension Plan, which is administered by the OPB.
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Six officers are now seeking $3 million each in damages, claiming they lost out because the commuted value of their OMERS pension was higher than the maximum transfer value allowed by the PSPP.
According to statements of claim filed with the Ontario Superior Court, the officers allege the OMERS breached the terms of its own plan by failing to give them the option of receiving the excess value in the form of a lump sum payout or a locked-in retirement account.
“The OMERS defendants breached their duties to the transferring plan member and unjustly enriched themselves, the plan, the contributing members, and contributing employers by failing to provide,” the officers with that election, read the claims, which were filed in Barrie, Ont.
The plaintiffs allege that the OPB are also liable for failing to allow the transfer of the full commuted value of their pensions. None of the allegations have been proven in court and no statements of defence have yet been filed.
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In an emailed statement to Benefits Canada, Don Peat, director of media relations at the OMERS, said the pension plan hadn’t been served with the claims.
“While we are not in position to comment on these specific documents, OMERS is committed to fulfilling our obligations to our members. Our dedication to serving our members remains steadfast, and we continue to work diligently to uphold the highest standards in service,” Peat added.
A spokesperson for the OPB told Benefits Canada the organization “has not been served with these claims and is unable to comment. It is also not our practice to comment on individual members’ cases. OPB is committed to providing excellent service to our members and upholding standards that protect the pension promise.”
Sherilyn Pickering, a lawyer with Kahler Personal Injury Law Firm and who’s representing the plaintiffs, says the six initial claimants may just be the beginning.
“We believe there will be many more,” she said, explaining that her clients account for just a fraction of the experienced municipal police officers recruited during the OPP’s recent and ongoing hiring spree.
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In a 2021 report, the Auditor General of Ontario found the OPP employed nine per cent fewer police officers than it had a decade earlier, leaving a shortfall of more than 1,000 vacant frontline constable positions across the province.
Pickering says the special status of municipal police officers in the OMERS will be an important part of the case. Unlike other members, police officers are covered by a supplemental plan that offers further optional benefits, boosting the overall value of their pensions.
Despite the commonalities in her clients’ cases, Pickering says she intends to advance the claims in the form of a “mass tort” rather than proceeding as a class action, as this will better account for the many individual differences at play. While all of the affected police officers transferred their pensions from the OMERS to the PSPP, they arrived at the OPP from a variety of previous employers.
There’s also likely to be a wide variation in each officer’s alleged losses, depending on their length of service with the OMERS, Pickering adds. Some of the claimants had spent more than a decade in roles at municipal police services before moving to the OPP, while others had served much shorter terms. “They are all similar cases, but we don’t want to bind people whose situations are different.”
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