The growing adoption of prohibitions against demanding sick notes to substantiate short-term absences, related to the health of employees or their immediate families, is among the emerging trends that are challenging employers in 2026. In November, British Columbia joined Saskatchewan, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador in imposing […]
What’s a plan administrator to do when an individual makes a claim to a pension entitlement that goes back many years after their employment — or in some cases, the employment of a spouse, partner, parent or even grandparent — has ended and available pension records are inconclusive? In a perfect world, when pension inquiries […]
The Saskatchewan government has passed several amendments to the provincial Employment Act that will impact employers’ leave policies. The amendments include the creation of a new 16-week unpaid interpersonal violence leave in addition to the existing 10-day leave, of which five are paid and five are unpaid. Employers will also no longer be able to […]
Administering a pension plan involves the accumulation of large amounts of data in the form of documents, filings, reports, emails and letters. At some point, plan administrators who have amassed all this information will ask themselves, “How long do we need to keep these records?” There’s some guidance from pension legislation, as well as pension […]
Calgary-based Acera Insurance Services Ltd. is expanding its group benefits division to Saskatchewan through a partnership with Saskatoon-based group benefits and retirement consultancy BMA Group. The deal closed in December and BMA will eventually transition to become Acera Benefits, according to a press release. This transaction marked Acera Insurance’s ninth partnership deal in 2024 and […]
Before Janet Jule joined the Saskatchewan Healthcare Employees’ Pension Plan as its chief investment officer in 2015, the pension plan sponsor started adding a wider variety of assets to its portfolio, emphasizing diversification and lowering its dependence on equities. Indeed, like many other plan sponsors, the SHEPP’s investment strategy is increasingly incorporating more alternative asset […]
Saskatchewan’s Public Employees Benefits Agency is transitioning to a not-for-profit corporation. The PEBA began pursuing the transition in 2021 at the request of the trustees of the two largest pension plans it administers — the Public Employees Pension Plan and the Municipal Employees Pension Plan. The not-for-profit will begin operations on Jan. 1, 2024 under the […]
The Saskatchewan government is introducing amendments to its pension legislation that provide additional flexibility for plan sponsors and introduce new decumulation options for members of defined contribution plans. The bill, which passed first reading in provincial parliament last week, includes provisions for DC plan sponsors to offer advanced life deferred annuities and variable payment lifetime […]
An article on how Scotiabank is supporting employee financial well-being was the most-read story on BenefitsCanada.com over the last week. Here are the five most popular news stories of the week: 1. Scotiabank supporting employee financial well-being with pension info sessions 2. Expert panel: The future of work is flexible, prioritizes employee mental health 3. Canadian pension funds calling […]
Pension and retirement plan members in Saskatchewan can now designate beneficiaries through electronic means. The provincial government recently passed a series of amendments regarding the electronic handling of legal matters. Bill 56 specifically allows individuals to name beneficiaries electronically for certain types of plans including an employee pension, retirement, welfare or profit-sharing fund or plan, […]