Nova Scotia court orders printing firm to pay legal fees for terminated non-unionized employee who was denied pension access due to employer breach of plan administrator duties
September 16, 2024
A printing firm must reimburse a terminated non-unionized employee for legal fees incurred in trying to access his pension after a Nova Scotia court concluded that the former employer had breached its common law and fiduciary duties as administrator of the pension plan.
According to the ruling, the employee first tried to access his pension in June 2022, around five months after he was terminated during a business slowdown triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, following more than four decades of service.
The employer then took the position that the employee had been “laid off” and not terminated, and refused to issue the official Statement of Termination of Employment he needed to begin receiving pension payments until ordered by the province’s Deputy Superintendent of Pensions — around a year after his firing.
The judge in the case found that the employer was obliged to issue a Statement of Termination within 60 days of the January 2022 termination date, which the judge held was not a layoff, and that the failure to do so constituted a breach of its statutory and common law fiduciary duties to the plaintiff.
As a result, the judge found that the former employee was entitled to recover as consequential damages the reasonable legal fees he incurred in pursuing the matter, inviting both parties to agree on a figure.
The judge was not prepared to order aggravated or punitive damages as a result of the breach, concluding that she was not satisfied the employer was acting in bad faith in its “misguided” characterization of the matter as a layoff, rather than a termination.
To read the decision, click on more information below:
