Arbitrator Finds No Time Limit in Collective Agreement Applied to Pension Contribution Grievance

An Ontario arbitrator has held that grievances over more than 10 years of unpaid pension contributions were not time-barred under the applicable collective agreement.

The grievances alleged that the employer failed to make the required 4% contributions to the Nursing Homes and Related Industries Pension Plan for a registered nurse from 2014 to 2025.

The employer argued that the grievances were barred by the collective agreement's general grievance provisions. Those provisions required a grievance to be raised within 10 days of the occurrence of an issue, or within 20 days for a union policy grievance, and treated late grievances as settled or abandoned. The union argued that these time limits did not apply because the collective agreement had a separate process for allegations of non-payment of pension contributions, with no filing deadline. The arbitrator agreed with the union and found the grievances timely. Reading the collective agreement as a whole, he found that the parties intended the pension dispute process to operate on its own, without the filing deadline under the collective agreement’s general grievance provisions. As a result, no time limit applied to the grievances for unpaid pension contributions under the collective agreement.

The arbitrator added that, even if the general time limits had applied, he would have relieved against them. Employer pension contributions are a vested benefit, and the parties had agreed that the employer would make “full payment” of missed contributions. The prejudice to the employee from enforcing the time limits far outweighed any prejudice to the employer in relieving against them.