The Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario is seeking feedback on proposed updates to its guidance on pension plan administrator roles and responsibilities. The updates include new sections on managing and retaining records, responding to complaints and inquiries and communicating information to plan members in an accurate and timely manner. Jordan Fremont, a partner at […]
Ontario-based defined benefit pension plans returned, on average, 0.7 per cent on their investments in the second quarter of 2023, according to a new report by the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario. It found the positive return contributed to a small increase in the median projected solvency ratio, which increased to 116 per cent. […]
The concept of employee benefits was established on a foundation built decades ago, when employees worked full time and long term with one employer. Those days are long gone. Temporary, part-time and gig work have become the norm, accounting for 60 per cent of job growth in advanced economies since the 1990s. Gig work is […]
The Association of Canadian Pension Management is urging the Ontario government to ensure its proposed rules for multi-employer target-benefit pension plans don’t undermine existing incentives that enable employers to create and maintain workplace pension plans. In an open letter, the ACPM said it believes the provision for adverse deviation will overly restrict the ability of MEPP trustees to manage […]
The Ontario Court of Appeal has overturned a $248,931 judgment against an employer that denied long-term disability benefits to an employee, citing the trial judge’s misinterpretation of eligibility requirements. “The employee’s position was that he was on temporary medical leave, but he had been working until the day he left and the medical evidence clearly […]
An article on how defined benefit pension plan sponsors can use a surplus was the most-read story on BenefitsCanada.com over the last week. Here are the five most popular news stories of the week: 1. Expert panel: How DB pension plan sponsors can use surplus 2. Median solvency ratio of Ontario DB pensions rose to 115% in Q1 […]
The Association of Canadian Pension Management is urging the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario to apply a best practices approach for the pension sector in its information technology risk management guidance. In an open letter to the FSRA, the ACPM said a real-time reporting framework for material IT risk incidents could result in a […]
The Ontario Court of Appeal has ruled that employers can’t rely on termination clauses when employees’ duties have escalated significantly after they signed their original employment contracts, including situations where the employee didn’t receive a promotion. In its ruling, the court relied on the changed substratum doctrine, which states termination clauses in a written employment […]
An article on how working mothers are struggling with work-life balance was the most-read story on BenefitsCanada.com over the last week. Here are the five most popular news stories of the week: 1. Majority of Canadian working moms struggling with work-life balance: survey 2. CPPIB jointly acquiring cloud-based software company, OMERS subsidiary entering debt financing agreements 3. How employers […]
Ontario-based pension plan sponsors can help reduce the number of missing plan members by examining their communications strategies and maintaining best practices in record keeping and data management, says Caroline Blouin, executive vice-president of pensions at the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario. “As an employer, there is an opportunity to provide some education and […]