Ontario’s Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) and the Ontario Compensation Employees Union converted WSIB’s $3.5 billion defined benefit, single employer pension plan (SEPP) to a jointly sponsored pension plan (JSPP) that is now administered by an independent Board of Trustees. This SEPP to JSPP conversion is the first ever of its kind in Canada. The WSIB plan is now listed as a JSPP under the Pension Benefits Act, consistent with a number of Ontario’s largest pension funds, such as the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, the College of Applied Arts and Technology Pension Plan and the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System.
Hicks Morley Hamilton Stewart Storie LLP advised WSIB, in its role as the employer and administrator of the SEPP and one of the co-sponsors of the JSPP, with a legal team consisting of:
Natasha D. Monkman,
Sukhvinder K. Dulay (pension and benefits),
Michael Smyth (labour and employment).
Gowling WLG also advised WSIB, in its role as the employer and administrator of the SEPP and one of the co-sponsors of the JSPP, with a legal team consisting of:
Daniel Hayhurst,
Ash Gupta (tax),
Carl Hinzmann (tax and investments),
Cara Stoller (investments)
Goldblatt Partners LLP, in its role as counsel to the Ontario Compensation Employees Union (Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 1750), advised the union on the conversion of the Plan to a JSPP with a team led by:
Simon Archer (pension and benefits, labour relations).
Goldblatt Partners LLP also advised the JSPP’s Board of Trustees on the conversion with a team including:
Susan Philpott,
Clio Godkewitsch,
Doug LeFaive,
David Sworn (pension and benefits),
and is currently co-counsel to the Board of Trustees with Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP.
Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP advised the JSPP’s Board of Trustees with a team consisting of:
Paul Litner,
Jonathan Marin,
Glorie Alfred,
Omar Sunderji,
Olivia Suppa,
Brenda Carson (pensions and benefits),
Matias Milet,
Jennifer Lee,
Andrew Granek,
Roger Smith (taxation),
Simon Hodgett (technology),
Lori Stein,
Sandra Malcolm (corporate),
Melanie Simon,
Kelly O’Ferrall (employment and labour).
Stikeman Elliot LLP advised the Investment Management Corporation of Ontario (“IMCO”) with the onboarding of the JSPP as an IMCO client with a team consisting of:
Vince Imerti,
Natasha vandenHoven,
John O’Connor (taxation),
Ramandeep Grewal,
Amy Chao,
Tia Eisner (corporate),
in conjunction with IMCO’s legal team lead by:
Allen Garson,
Andrew Beamer,
Sharon Au.