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Lawson Lundell has Western Canada's leading Pension and Employee Benefits Law Group. We have a core group of solicitors practising exclusively in the area, and a larger group of lawyers with expertise in representing clients on trust, fiduciary, investment and litigation matters affecting pension and employee benefit plans.
Pension and employee benefits law is a specialized area of law focused on providing advice and solutions on issues arising out of an array of different kinds of plans and programs that employers provide for their employees and executives.
These include:
defined benefit registered pension plans;
capital accumulation plans (including defined contribution registered pension plans, group RRSPs, and deferred profit sharing plans;
supplemental employee retirement plans (or “SERP”);
retirement compensation arrangements (or “RCA”);
health and welfare trusts;
employee benefit trusts;
group benefits including life, disability and health and dental plans;
employee incentive plans and bonus plans; and
executive compensation plans and change in control agreements.
Our pension and employee benefits lawyers are specialists in navigating the legal and regulatory hurdles encountered in establishing, managing, communicating, litigating, merging and terminating pension and employee benefit plans. We are fully conversant with the Income Tax Act and provincial and federal pension standards issues facing plan sponsors and administrators. We work closely with decision-makers in the benefits consulting, trust, insurance and investment management businesses. We maintain a broad network of contacts at all levels.
Our Pension and Employee Benefits Law Group advises numerous Western Canadian employers who sponsor pension and employee benefit plans. We also act for more than a dozen boards of trustees of multi-employer pension and health and welfare plans. Our clients are in all sectors of the economy, including resources, financial services, manufacturing and government.
Examples of our work include:
advising boards of directors, boards of trustees and finance and human resources managers on the legal risks of pension and employee benefit plan decisions and administrative practices;
consulting on pension and employee benefits plan governance and investment issues, including fiduciary responsibilities and the recently issued CAP guidelines;
assisting clients with pension, employee benefit plan, executive compensation and incentive program alternatives, implementation issues and communication strategies;
drafting and amending pension and employee benefit plan texts, trust agreements, investment management agreements and other contracts;
preparing documentation for complex employee benefit programs, including flexible benefit plans;
negotiating with trust and insurance companies on behalf of clients;
assisting plan sponsors in meeting the regulatory requirements of provincial or federal pension standards legislation, the Income Tax Act and other laws;
drafting submissions to regulatory authorities on compliance matters;
representing clients in court on matters arising out of pension and benefit claims, third party reimbursements, fiduciary claims and collection matters;
advising plan sponsors on pension surplus and contribution holiday matters;
engaging in due diligence of pension and employee benefit plan obligations in corporate mergers and acquisitions;
merging and dividing pension and employee benefit plans upon mergers, acquisitions and corporate reorganizations; and
assisting clients in drafting and communicating executive compensation, incentive and retirement plans.
View a listing of team members in this practice area.
For more information contact Murray T.A. Campbell at 604.631.9187 or mcampbell@lawsonlundell.com
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Resources: Pension and Employee Benefit Class Actions — The Defence Perspective - February 21, 2008
Pension Dispute Arbitration Prevails Over Class Proceedings - July 30, 2007
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