40

 

Third Session, 47th General Assembly

63 Elizabeth II, 2014

BILL 40

AN ACT TO MODIFY ELIGIBILITY FOR OTHER
POST-EMPLOYMENT BENEFITS

Received and Read the First Time.................................................................................................

Second Reading.................................................................................................................................

Committee..........................................................................................................................................

Third Reading.....................................................................................................................................

Royal Assent......................................................................................................................................

HONOURABLE ROSS WISEMAN

Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board

Ordered to be printed by the Honourable House of Assembly

 

 

EXPLANATORY NOTES

This Bill would enact the Other Post-Employment Benefits Eligibility Modification Act.

The Bill would

·         extinguish existing rights to and eligibility for other post-employment benefits on the coming into force of the Act,  with a 5 year transitional period;

·         confirm that nothing in the Act would affect or preclude an act, practice, contract or collective agreement for other post-employment benefits in the future; and

·         clarify that a Provincial Court judge who is a plan member, a pensioner or a deferred pensioner under the Public Service Pensions Act, 1991 is unaffected by the coming into force of the Act.

A BILL

AN ACT TO MODIFY ELIGIBILITY FOR OTHER
POST-EMPLOYMENT BENEFITS

Analysis


        1.   Short title

        2.   Interpretation

        3.   Rights and eligibility extinguished

        4.   Deferred pensioners

        5.   Reduced pension 

        6.   Employees eligible  for unreduced pension

        7.   No liability

        8.   Act does not affect Provincial Court judges

        9.   Commencement

Schedule


Be it enacted by the Lieutenant-Governor and House of Assembly in Legislative Session convened, as follows:

Short title

        1. This Act may be cited as the Other Post-Employment Benefits Eligibility Modification Act.

Interpretation

        2. (1) In this Act

             (a)  "government " means the government of the province;

             (b)  "other post-employment benefits" and "OPEB" mean benefits provided to pensioners and their beneficiaries in respect of their eligibility to participate in group health and life insurance programs sponsored by the government or a participating employer;

             (c)  "participating employers" means those employers listed in the Schedule; and

             (d)  "transitional period" means a period of 5 years after the date this Act comes into force.

             (2)  This Act shall be read as one with the Public Service Pensions Act, 1991, and words defined in that Act have the same meaning in this Act.

Rights and eligibility extinguished

        3. (1) The following rights to and eligibility for OPEB existing at the date of the coming into force of this Act are extinguished:

             (a)  a right to or eligibility for OPEB that an employee or deferred pensioner may have arising from an act or practice of the government or participating employer; and

             (b)  a right to or eligibility for OPEB that an employee or deferred pensioner may have arising from a contract, including a collective agreement.

             (2)  Nothing in this section precludes the government or a participating employer from establishing an act or practice or entering into a contract or collective agreement respecting OPEB eligibility after the coming into force of this Act.

Deferred pensioners

        4. (1) Notwithstanding section 3, a person who was a deferred pensioner on the coming into force of this Act is eligible for OPEB if that deferred pensioner retires in the transitional period.

             (2)  Where a deferred pensioner referred to in subsection (1) does not retire in the transitional period, that deferred pensioner's right to OPEB is preserved where that deferred pensioner agrees to pay 100% of the required premiums.

             (3)  Where a deferred pensioner referred to in this section does not retire in the transitional period or enter into an agreement contemplated in subsection (2), that deferred pensioner's right to OPEB is extinguished.

             (4)  A person who has received a notice of termination of employment and who was receiving salary continuance at the time of the coming into force of this Act shall be considered to be a deferred pensioner on the coming into force of this Act for the purpose of this section.

Reduced pension  

        5. Notwithstanding section 3, an employee who was eligible for a reduced pension on the coming into force of this Act or who becomes eligible for a reduced pension in the transitional period shall be eligible for OPEB if that employee retires in the transitional period.

Employees eligible  for unreduced pension

        6. (1) Notwithstanding section 3, an employee who was eligible for an unreduced pension on the coming into force of this Act or who becomes eligible for an unreduced pension in the transitional period shall be eligible for OPEB, and shall retain that eligibility whether the employee retires in the transitional period or at any time after that.

             (2)  Notwithstanding section 3, where an employee attains 30 years of pensionable service before or during the transitional period, that employee is eligible for OPEB if he or she retires on termination of employment, whether that retirement occurs in the transitional period or at any time after that.

No liability

        7. An action or proceeding does not lie or shall not be instituted or continued against the Crown or a minister, employee or agent of the Crown or a participating employer based on a cause of action arising from, resulting from or incidental to the operation of this Act or resulting from or incidental to the extinguishment of a right to or eligibility for other post-employment benefits which may have existed or accrued before the coming into force of this Act.

Act does not affect Provincial Court judges

        8. Nothing in this Act binds or affects in any way a Provincial Court judge who was a member of the pension plan, a pensioner or a deferred pensioner at the date of the coming into force of this Act or at any time in the future.

Commencement

        9. This Act comes into force on a day to be proclaimed by the Lieutenant-Governor in Council.


Schedule

Association of Registered Nurses of Newfoundland and Labrador

Board of Commissioners of Public Utilities

C.A. Pippy Park Commission

Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board

Central Regional Health Authority

College for Licensed Practical Nurses of Newfoundland and Labrador

College of the North Atlantic

Conseil scolaire francophone provincial de Terre-Neuve-et Labrador

Eastern Regional Health Authority

Eastern Residential Support Board

Government of Newfoundland and Labrador

Grace Sparkes Home

Labrador Group Home

Labrador-Grenfell Regional Health Authority

Municipal Assessment Agency

Nalcor Energy

Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council

Newfoundland and Labrador Centre for Health Information 

Newfoundland and Labrador English School District

Newfoundland and Labrador Film Development Corporation

Newfoundland and Labrador Foster Families Association

Newfoundland and Labrador Housing Corporation

Newfoundland and Labrador Legal Aid Commission

Newfoundland and Labrador Liquor Corporation

Provincial Advisory Council on the Status of Women - Newfoundland and Labrador

Provincial Information and Library Resources Board

Research and Development Council

Waypoints

Western Regional Health Authority

Workplace Health, Safety and Compensation Commission