FST Hearing - Jan Szarycz (Canadian Commercial Workers Industrial Pension Plan)

On May 4, 2007, Mr. Jan Szarycz, the (“Applicant”), requested a hearing regarding the Notice of Proposal of the Deputy Superintendent, Pensions, dated April 18, 2007, proposing to refuse to make an order in respect of the Canadian Commercial Workers Industrial Pension Plan (the “Plan”), requiring the administrator to transfer the commuted value of Mr. Szarycz’s pension benefit to a Locked-in Retirement Account (LIRA), Life-Income Fund (LIF) or a Locked-In Retirement Income Fund (LRIF), or to provide payment to the Applicant of the commuted value of his pension benefit, pursuant to sections 42, 50, 67 and 87 of the Pension Benefits Act (the "Act"). 

The grounds for the proposed refusal advanced by the Superintendent in the Notice of Proposal are as follows:

• section 42 of the Act does not permit a transfer of the kind requested by the Applicant if the member of the pension plan is terminated in circumstances where he or she is entitled to the immediate payment of a pension benefit under the plan and the plan does not permit a transfer; the Superintendent maintains that this is the position of the Applicant under the Plan;
• the Applicant does not qualify for payment of a commuted benefit under section 50(1) of the Act given the amount of the pension benefit that would be payable to him at his normal retirement date;
• section 67(5) of the Act has not application because funds are not being currently held in a prescribed retirement savings arrangement, such as a LIRA, a LIF or an LRIF.  

A pre-hearing conference is scheduled for July 12, 2007.

Updated to June 14, 2007

On July 12, 2007 the pre-hearing conference was held.  The hearing in this matter is scheduled for October 26, 2007.

Updated to July 20, 2007

At the hearing on October 26, 2007, the Tribunal reserved its decision.