Multi-Employer Pension & Benefit Plans

Our group represents over 30 boards of trustees of multi-employer pension and benefits plans throughout western Canada. Our experience in advising boards of trustees of multi-employer plans is unmatched in Western Canada. As a result of our extensive experience, we fully appreciate all of the unique challenges and opportunities multi-employer pension and benefits plans face.

A significant part of our work involves representing boards of trustees in court on matters arising out of pension and benefit claims, third party reimbursements, fiduciary claims and collection matters.

Experience

Examples of our work include:

• Advising boards of trustees on the legal risks of pension and employee benefit plan decisions and administrative practices
• Assisting with the introduction of joint trusteeship to several public sector pension plans in British Columbia, Alberta and Manitoba
• Advising boards of trustees on plan governance and investment issues, including fiduciary responsibilities and the CAP guidelines
• Drafting and implementing several PIPA compliant privacy policies for boards of trustees of pension and benefit plans
• Establishing boards of trustees and defined benefit and defined contribution multi-employer pension plans
• Assisting boards of trustees with pension and benefit plan implementation issues and communication strategies
• Drafting and amending multi-employer pension and employee benefit plan texts, trust agreements, investment management agreements and other contracts
• Negotiating with trust and insurance companies on behalf of boards of trustees
• Assisting boards of trustees in meeting the regulatory requirements of provincial or federal pension standards legislation, the Income Tax Act and other laws
• Drafting submissions to regulatory authorities on compliance matters
• Advising boards of trustees on pension surplus and contribution holiday matters
• Advising boards of trustees on situations of trustee deadlock

Team