Western Forest Products and the United Steelworkers union have reached a tentative collective agreement after more than seven months of tensions over pensions and long-term disability benefits. About 3,000 of the Vancouver-based lumber company’s employees walked off the job on July 1, 2019. In November, the company dropped it’s proposal to implement pension plan alternatives to which the union […]
The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health has released a guide advising companies on how they can support employees facing mental-health challenges. The guide, which is based on a review of existing research on mental health in the workplace, offers five recommendations for Canadian employers: create a long-term mental-health strategy for the entire organization; implement […]
With Canada’s population ageing and research and development looking to produce medications that are beneficial for this evolving demographic, drugs are becoming more expensive, according to Mitch Frazer, partner and chair of the pensions and employment practice at Torys LLP. In fact, among all the countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Canada has the third […]
Employees at steelmaker Ivaco Rolling Mills Ltd. in L’Orignal. Ont. have ratified new collective agreements that include improvements to their wages and benefits. About 400 employees who are members of United Steelworkers locals 7940 and 8794 voted this week to ratify five-year collective agreements. The new contracts include improvements to benefits, including long-term disability, vision […]
Major Canadian insurers are no longer resetting the long-term disability pre-existing condition clause for women whose benefits coverage lapsed during their maternity leave when they return to work. Women covered by these insurers — which include the Co-operators Group Ltd., Desjardins Insurance, Empire Life Insurance Co., iA Financial Group, Manulife Financial Corp., RBC Insurance and Sun Life — […]
The British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal has dismissed a complaint from a Molson Coors Beverage Co. retiree who alleged the company’s employee benefits plan was discriminatory on the basis of age. The tribunal found providing reduced benefits to employees over the age of 65 isn’t considered discrimination under the province’s Human Rights Code. The decision […]
The Ontario Court of Appeal is poised to hear a case that could clear up the conflicting jurisprudence regarding the point at which limitation periods that apply to disability claims start to run. “The decisions from lower courts are all over the place and the court will have to reconcile them,” says Nainesh Kotak, a […]
Both absenteeism and presenteeism affect employers’ bottom lines and employee morale, but does one have more impact on the workplace? Julie Holden, principal at Holden & Associates Ltd. In many ways, employee absence is a major disruption to the workplace and it has become much more complex over the years. On one hand, there’s the […]
With a wellness strategy focused on complete employee health, Nav Canada was recognized with the Sanofi Canada Wellness Pioneer Award at Benefits Canada’s Workplace Benefits Awards in Toronto on Oct. 17. The award is open to Canadian plan sponsors that have provided plan members with a wellness program for at least five years. It acknowledges an organization that’s developed […]
A recent decision by Ontario’s Divisional Court means that the province’s hospital sector is bound to provide long-term disability coverage to unionized employees who work past age 65. While the court’s ruling dealt only with the collective bargaining agreement between Markham Stouffville Hospital’s site at Uxbridge and the Canadian Union of Local Employees’ Local 1999, the […]