B.C.'s Financial Services Tribunal dismisses pension plan trustees' appeal against BCFSA
July 04, 2023
B.C.’s Financial Services Tribunal has barred a collectively bargained multi-employer pension plan from imposing a 25-per-cent benefit reduction on the members that withdraw from the plan after upholding the Superintendent of Pensions’ decision to reject the amendment.
The trustees of the Forest Industry Pension Plan — made up equally of union and management members — argued that the amendment fairly balanced the interests of departing members, while providing the plan with a buffer against possible future funding issues that would affect remaining members only.
However, the Superintendent declined to accept the plan amendments, going on to label the benefit-reduction proposal for employees of withdrawing employers an effective “wealth transfer” to the plan’s remaining members.
Noting the lack of evidence of a potential future adverse actuarial event, the tribunal sided with the superintendent, agreeing that the proposed amendments did not comply with B.C.’s Pension Benefits Standards Act, which contains a general prohibition against benefit reductions outside of certain prescribed circumstances.
Click on more information to read the decision:
