Friday, April 27th

7:00p.m.

Registration, Reception and Keynote Speaker

The Honourable Mr. Justice Thomas Cromwell, Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada

Sat, April 28th

8:30a.m.

9:00-9:10a.m.

Welcome and Opening Remarks

Bill Flanagan, Dean, Faculty of Law, Queen's University

Beth Symes, Partner, Symes Street & Millard LLP

Mark Ellis, Partner, Baker & McKenzie LLP

Population Aging - Demo Doom or Apocalypse No?

Michael Wolfson, Canada Research Chair in Population Health

 Modelling/Populomics, University of Ottawa, Faculty of Medicine

With the recent federal budget, and the proposed changes to the OAS program, questions of the baby boom bulge and its coming reverberations throughout the economy are high on the policy agenda.  But are the underlying concerns really that well-founded?  We shall look not only at the conventional demographic “body count” projections, but also at other aspects of Canada’s society, including the labour market, health care and pensions.  The resulting story is certainly more complex, but nowhere near the demo doom scenario many commentators are purveying.

The Theoretical Justifications for Anti-Ange Discrimination Law in the Employment Setting

Pnina Alon-Shenker, Assistant Professor, Law & Business, Ryerson University

This presentation will critically examine the contemporary understanding of anti-age discrimination in the employment setting in an attempt to strengthen its theoretical underpinnings.

Litigating Age Discrimination in the Shadow of the Charter:  McKinney Rides Again!

Robert Charney, Constitutional Lawyer & Professor, Ministry of the Attorney General

Elizabeth McIntrye, Partner, Cavalluzzo Hayes Shilton McIntyre & Cornish LLP

Barry Brown, Partner, Hicks Morley Hamilton Stewart Storie LLP

This presentation will address the numerous ‘age discrimination in the workplace’ issues that remain after changes to human rights codes relating to mandatory retirement, including the issues raised in ONA v Chatham-Kent (Municipality) (October 31, 2010)  and Withler v. AG of Canada (SCC, 2011). 

The Accommodation Gap:  What do Older Workers Need, What Do They Have a Right To, and Are They Getting It?

Kevin Banks, CLCW Director & Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law, Queen's University

Richard Chaykowski, Professor & Master of Industrial Relations Program Director, Queen's School of Policy Studies

George Slotsve, Department of Economics, Norther Illinois University

This presentation will look at data from Statistics Canada's PALS surveys in 2001 and 2006 to determine which kinds of disability and accommodation requirements are correlated with aging, and whether in the view of workers those accommodations are being provided. It will ask two questions: whether there is an emerging “accommodation deficit” for age-related disabilities and whether the human rights tribunal approach to disability accommodation is adequate for this group of workers.  

Two-Tier Workplaces

Michael MacNeil, Associate Professor, Department of Law, Carleton University

This presentation will focus on the implications for the modern workplace of recent trends toward establishing two-tiers of terms and conditions of employment (including pension plans), with inferior wages and benefits going to entry-level workers. 

Security of Retirement Benefits in Canada:  You Bet Your Life?

Ronald Davis, Associate Professor, University of British Columbia

The focus of this presentation is on the nature of the “bet” embedded within the employment contract’s pension and benefit provisions and the effect of legal rules on the odds of the employee collecting on that bet.  Among the issues that the presentation will address are: the legal status of post-retirement benefits (pensions and other benefits) in both unionized and non-unionized workplaces; the legal authority of unions to bargain these matters and any constraints on their bargaining authority; and the legal standing of retirees to press their own claims. It will also deal with the extent to which these benefits can be altered during the working lifetime and after retirement for both solvent employers and insolvent employers.

Legal Issues for Employers in the Current Round of Pension Reform

Paul Litner, Partner, Pensions & Benefits, Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP

This presentation will deal with recent legislative reform of employment pension plans, and the extent to which reform initiatives have or have not addressed the legal issues which have concerned employer sponsors over the past few decades: surplus ownership, partial wind-ups, mergers and asset transfers, funding standards, plan underfunding, the need for more flexible pension vehicles, etc.. It will also review the PRPP—the federal government’s newest type of pension plan—and examine whether the PRPP addresses the legal issues for employers under traditional employment pension plans.

Employment Pensions and Gender Equality

Elizabeth Shilton, CLCW Senior Fellow, Faculty of Law, Queen's University

This presentation will examine the relationship between gendered patterns of work and the structure of employment pension plans. It will explore some of the reasons why the current legal framework delivers inferior employment pensions to women, and why the situation for women is likely to worsen in light of current trends towards increasingly contingent and precarious work relationships. It will also examine the likely gender impact of new pension vehicles like PRPPs.

3:45-4:45p.m.

Wrap-Up Panel - An Aging Workforce Confronts the Law of the Workplace:  Where are We Headed?

Justice Stephen Goudge, Court of Appeal for Ontario

Sheila Osborne-Brown, Director & Senior Counsel, Canadian Human Rights Commission

Bernie Fishbein, Chair, Ontario Labour Relations Board

Elizabeth MacPherson, Chairperson, Canada Industrial Relations Board

Susan Eng, Vice-President for Advocacy, CARP

4:45p.m.

Concluding Remarks

Beth Symes, Partner, Symes Street & Millard LLP

Mark Ellis, Partner, Baker & McKenzie LLP

Kevin Banks, CLCW Director & Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law, Queen's University