Did you work for
home care and then a CCAC in the mid-1990s?
Were you a member
of OPSEU or the Association of Allied Health
Professionals: Ontario at the time?
Was your pension
membership moved from either OMERS or VON Pension
Plan to HOOPP when your job moved to a CCAC?
If so, there is
important information that may be of interest to you
at (web address) regarding a class action brought on
behalf of people like yourself against the
government.
The class action is
brought by OPSEU member Sue McSheffrey on behalf of
current and former members of OPSEU and Association
of Allied Health Professionals:Ontario (AAHP:O) who
had their pensions moved either from OMERS or the
VON pension plan, to HOOPP (Hospitals of Ontario
Pension Plan) when the government moved homecare
services to Community Care Access Centres in
1996-97.
Sue McSheffrey and
OPSEU began this class action to provide a cost
effective way to determine the government's
liability for any pension losses. A class action of
this nature eliminates the need for each individual
to bring their own lawsuit at their own expense for
a determination of the government's liability.
Instead, the class representative, Sue McSheffrey,
takes this issue to court on behalf of you all.
Class members, other than the class representative,
are not liable for the costs at this stage.
Once the liability of
the government is established through a trial, the
question remains of the actual amount of any
individual's loss. That would have to be shown
through a statement from the pension plans, or
actuary or other similar professional, to determine
what amount would have been earned in benefits if
they had not been moved. Proving this part could be
achieved by either by agreement with the government
or by a mini-hearing. If a mini-hearing is required,
then the individual could claim the costs of that
mini-hearing against the government.
It is up to you
whether you use the opportunity to claim a loss or
not. If you do not, then there is no risk of cost to
you. If you are concerned that there might be a cost
associated with claiming the loss, we urge you to
await the determination of the government's
liability and any developments arising out of that
before making your final decision on whether to
proceed. In other words, by remaining in the class
action at this time, you are preserving your right
to decide if you will use this opportunity- you are
not incurring any individual costs and are not at
risk to incur individual costs at this stage.
