B.C. college must provide long-term disability coverage to all faculty members after an arbitrator found that excluding those over 65 was discriminatory
November 01, 2024
A B.C. college must extend long-term disability (LTD) coverage to all faculty members after an arbitrator ruled that denying benefits to those over 65 was discriminatory.
The ruling followed a decade-long grievance from the faculty union after the college continued to terminate LTD plan coverage at age 65, despite changes to B.C.’s Human Rights Code that eliminated mandatory retirement at that age.
The union argued that ending LTD coverage at 65 violated the “No Discrimination” clause of the collective agreement and section 13 of the Code, which prohibits age discrimination in employment.
The arbitrator first reviewed the collective agreement, which barred discrimination on the grounds outlined in the Code. The arbitrator agreed with the union that terminating coverage at 65 was prima facie discrimination. However, the Code includes an exception to the prohibition on discrimination for a “bona fide group or employee insurance plan,” and the arbitrator found that the collective agreement did not eliminate this exception.
In any case, the arbitrator concluded that the “bona fide” exception didn’t apply here, as the college couldn’t reasonably have believed that continuing to adopt the age 65 cut-off did not defeat protected rights or was necessary for the stability of the plan. While the college’s initial concerns about the costs of post-65 coverage may have been reasonable, “the reasonableness of that belief melted away as the context evolved,” the arbitrator explained, noting that post-65 coverage options now exist that wouldn’t destabilize the plan.
Click on more information below to read the arbitrator’s decision:
