Canadian Human Rights Tribunal rules union discriminated against pensioners by limiting access to work opportunities
April 29, 2025
The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal found for two longshore workers their complaint against rules limiting pensioners’ access to work opportunities.
The union instituted the two new pension policies – the “pension dispatch rule” and the “pensioner equalization rule” - to address complaints of “double dipping” against members who were previously able to continue earning full wages after beginning to collect pension income when they reached age 65. The rules placed pensioners behind all union members and casual workers on a priority list used to hand out work assignments, regardless of the pensioners’ security. The union had created these two new policies after the elimination of mandatory retirement at age 65 in the federal labour sector.
After finding the members had established a prima facie case of discrimination under sections 9 and 10 of the Canadian Human Rights Act, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal (Tribunal) considered the union’s defence. It accepted that the union had acted in good faith and met the first two elements of the test for a “bona fide occupational requirement” by aiming to improve work and income opportunities for younger members.
However, the union’s defence fell short on the third element, which requires that a policy be “reasonably necessary” to accomplish its goal.
“The Union has not established that allowing seniority to workers receiving pension income would cause undue hardship in terms of health, safety or costs.” the Tribunal wrote as it found the complaints substantiated.
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