News & Events

The CRA has issued a Technical Interpretation, acknowledging that Private Health Services Plans (“PHSPs”) members may have been unable to use their allocated Health Care Spending Account (“HCSA”) credits during the COVID-19 pandemic due to the restriction on services available. The CRA advises that in light of the extraordinary circumstances of the crisis, it has

On May 22, 2020, FSRA released Guidance on its approach to reviewing applications for commuted value transfers and annuity purchases under sections 19(4) and 19(5) of the Pension Benefits Act’s Regulation 909. The newly released Guidance addresses what restrictions apply to a Plan Administrator when a defined benefit pension plan’s transfer ratio has declined by

Effective June 8, 2020, all in-person hearings scheduled before the Workplace Safety and Insurance Appeals Tribunal (WSIAT) will be converted to teleconference hearings unless the Scheduling Administration Manager is satisfied that another alternative hearing method is appropriate. If a party objects to proceeding by teleconference, their objection will be addressed by the Vice-Chair or Panel

The Government of Canada has apparently decided that it will not permit Supplemental Unemployment Benefit (“SUB”) plans to make Canada Emergency Response Benefit (“CERB”) top-up payments to members. Although the government has not formally announced this apparent decision, it has published the following on the ‘Questions and Answers on the Canada Emergency Response Benefit’ page. Q:

Union locals, pension funds, and employee benefit funds may be eligible for the Temporary Wage Subsidy and the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy in their capacity as employers. Employers will generally be eligible for the Temporary Wage Subsidy (TWS) if they have one or more employees and had a business number for the purpose of making

Ontario’s pension regulator, the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (“FSRA”), has released new guidance for pension plan administrators, sponsors, members, retirees, and other stakeholders navigating the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. This statement, effective April 24, 2020, follows two earlier releases from FISRA regarding the impact of COVID-19. You can read more about these prior statements in our

This post provides a round-up of recent measures taken by Canada’s federal and provincial pension regulators in response to COVID-19. Federal The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions has released an updated Q&A in respect of its decision to temporarily prohibit portability transfers and buy-out annuity purchases in order to protect pension fund solvency.

Ontario’s Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) has posted information with respect to withdrawing from locked-in accounts as a result of financial hardship. Although the criteria have not changed under Ontario’s Pension Benefits Act (PBA), the information has recently been posted to remind those finding themselves in financial hardship amid the Covid-19 pandemic of the options

As part of its response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (“WSIB”) has announced a relief package allowing employers to defer premium reporting and payments until August 31, 2020. The WSIB has also announced that the costs for COVID-19 claims will be allocated on a Schedule-wide basis, and will not result

Pension regulators across Canada have released numerous relief measures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Two recent Koskie Minsky blog posts on March 26 and March 30 summarize the action taken at the Federal level and in Ontario. Here we provide a summary of the measures which have been taken by other provincial regulators across