Challenges To Benefit Plan Distinctions

As discussed at our last A.M. Pension Webinar in December 2019, following the 2018 decision of the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal in Talos v. Grand Erie District School Board ("Talos"), employees and unions continue to challenge age-based distinctions in benefit plans. In this post, we highlight two such cases from late 2019 and briefly review the decision in Talos.

Talos v. Grand Erie District School Board

As discussed in our December 18, 2018 post, in 2018, the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal (the "Ontario Tribunal") considered whether or not Mr. Talos had experienced discrimination on the basis of age, in violation of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms ("Charter"), because his employer had terminated his health, dental and life insurance benefits at age 65 even though he continued to work. In a May 2018 interim decision, the Ontario Tribunal found that Mr. Talos' rights under the equality provision of the Charter were unjustifiably infringed by