Pension & Benefits
Our Group
Miller Thomson’s Pension & Benefits Group consists of lawyers from various disciplines across Canada. In today’s business environment, pension and benefits considerations enter into nearly every business decision, and continue to increase in significance as Canadians focus on retirement planning.
Our Expertise
Our lawyers provide specialized expertise and practical advice to plan sponsors and administrators, funding agents, trustees, custodians, consultants, and directors on all areas of pension, benefits and other compensation arrangements, including:
- Advising on plan design and administration including compliance and regulatory issues, marriage breakdown and pension splitting, surplus utilization strategies, plan wind-ups and mergers, and fund investment
- Conducting pension governance audits by reviewing the governance structure of a pension plan and making recommendations on legal liability issues
- Advising plan sponsors, board of directors, trustees and frontline staff on fiduciary and statutory duties, proper external delegation, and reviewing and negotiating agreements with external service providers
- Drafting and reviewing plan documentation including plan texts and amendments, trust agreements, employee booklets, insurance contracts and investment manager agreements
- Implementing effective employee communication strategies to reduce potential liability and advising employers on changing or amending post-retirement benefits
- Advising on design, funding and tax compliance issues for registered plans, supplemental retirement arrangements, retiring allowances, deferred income arrangements, profit-sharing plans, health and welfare trusts, and flexible benefit plans
- Dealing with pension and benefits issues connected with corporate mergers, acquisitions, divestitures and reorganizations
- Advising employers on plant closures, downsizing and early retirement programs
- Drafting submissions and representation of clients in collective bargaining and grievance arbitration and before regulatory bodies and the courts, involving litigation over pension and benefits issues, including class actions
Our Experience
Recent examples of our representative work include the following:
- Advised a Hydro successor company on the demerger of the Ontario Hydro Pension Plan and continue to act as legal counsel for a number of Hydro spin-off companies
- Acted for one of the successor blood service organizations and a provincial government in the demerger of the Red Cross Society Pension Plan
- Assisted the custodian on the T. Eaton Company Pension Plan wind-ups
- Acted for the appointed third-party administrator in the Confederation Life Plan wind-up