Third

Session, 47th General Assembly

Elizabeth II, 2014

BILL 40

AN ACT TO MODIFY

ELIGIBILITY FOR OTHER

POST-EMPLOYMENT BENEFITS

Received and Read the First Time .................................................................................................

Second Reading .................................................................................................................................

Committee ..........................................................................................................................................

Third Reading .....................................................................................................................................

Royal Assent ......................................................................................................................................

HONOURABLE

ROSS WISEMAN

Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board

Ordered

to be printed by the Honourable House of Assembly

EXPLANATORY NOTES

This Bill would enact the Other Post-Employment Benefits Eligibility

Modification Act.

The Bill would

extinguish existing rights to and

eligibility for other post-employment benefits on the coming into force of the

Act, with a 5 year transitional period;

confirm that nothing in the Act

would affect or preclude

an act, practice, contract or collective agreement for

other post-employment benefits in the future; and

clarify that a Provincial Court

judge who is a plan member, a pensioner or a deferred pensioner under the Public Service Pensions Act, 1991 is unaffected

by the coming into force of the Act.

A BILL

AN ACT TO MODIFY ELIGIBILITY FOR OTHER

POST-EMPLOYMENT BENEFITS

Analysis

Short title

Interpretation

Rights and eligibility extinguished

Deferred pensioners

Reduced pension

Employees eligible for unreduced pension

No liability

Act does not affect Provincial Court judges

Commencement

Schedule

Be it enacted by the Lieutenant-Governor and

House of Assembly in Legislative Session convened, as follows:

Short title

1. This

Act may be cited as the Other Post-Employment Benefits Eligibility

Modification Act .

Interpretation

(1) In

this Act

(a) "government " means the government

of the province;

(b) "other post-employment benefits" and

"OPEB" mean benefits provided to pensioners and their beneficiaries

in respect of their eligibility to participate in group health and life insurance

programs sponsored by the government or a participating employer;

(c) "participating employers" means

those employers listed in the Schedule; and

(d) "transitional period" means a period

of 5 years after the date this Act comes into force.

(2) This Act shall be read as one with the Public Service Pensions Act, 1991 , and

words defined in that Act have the same meaning in this Act.

Rights and

eligibility extinguished

(1) The following rights to and

eligibility for OPEB existing at the date of the coming into force of this Act

are extinguished:

(

a) a right to or eligibility for OPEB that an

employee or deferred pensioner may have arising from

an act or practice of the

government or participating employer; and

(

b) a right to or eligibility for OPEB that an

employee or deferred pensioner may have arising from a contract, including a collective

agreement.

(2) Nothing in this

section precludes the

government or a participating employer from establishing

an act or practice or

entering into a contract or collective agreement respecting OPEB eligibility after

the coming into force of this Act.

Deferred

pensioners

(1) Notwithstanding

section 3, a person who was a deferred pensioner on the coming into force of

this Act is eligible for OPEB if that deferred pensioner retires in the

transitional period.

(2) Where a deferred pensioner referred to in

subsection (1) does not retire in the transitional period, that deferred

pensioner's right to OPEB is preserved where that deferred pensioner agrees to pay

100% of the required premiums.

(3) Where a deferred pensioner referred to in this

section does not retire in the transitional period or enter into an agreement contemplated

in subsection (2), that deferred pensioner's right to OPEB is extinguished.

(4) A person who has received a notice of

termination of employment and who was receiving salary continuance at the time

of the coming into force of this Act shall be considered to be a deferred pensioner

on the coming into force of this Act for the purpose of this section.

Reduced pension

5. Notwithstanding

section 3, an employee who was eligible for a reduced pension on the coming

into force of this Act or who becomes eligible for a reduced pension in the

transitional period shall be eligible for OPEB if that employee retires in the

transitional period.

Employees

eligible for unreduced pension

(1) Notwithstanding

section 3, an employee who was eligible for an unreduced pension on the coming

into force of this Act or who becomes eligible for an unreduced pension in the

transitional period shall be eligible for OPEB, and shall retain that

eligibility whether the employee retires in the transitional period or at any

time after that.

(2) Notwithstanding

section 3, where an employee

attains 30 years of pensionable service before or during the transitional

period, that employee is eligible for OPEB if he or she retires on termination

of employment, whether that retirement occurs in the transitional period or at

any time after that.

No liability

7. An

action or proceeding does not lie or shall not be instituted or continued

against the Crown or a minister, employee or agent of the Crown or a

participating employer based on a cause of action arising from, resulting from

or incidental to the operation of this Act or resulting from or incidental to

the extinguishment of a right to or eligibility for other post-employment benefits

which may have existed or accrued before the coming into force of this Act.

Act does not

affect Provincial Court

judges

8. Nothing

in this Act binds or affects in any way a Provincial Court judge who was a member

of the pension plan, a pensioner or a deferred pensioner at the date of the

coming into force of this Act or at any time in the future.

Commencement

9. This Act comes into force on a day to be

proclaimed by the Lieutenant-Governor in Council.

Schedule

Association of Registered Nurses of Newfoundland

and Labrador

Board of Commissioners of Public Utilities

C.A. Pippy Park Commission

Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador

Offshore Petroleum Board

Central Regional Health Authority

College for Licensed Practical Nurses of Newfoundland

and Labrador

College of the North Atlantic

Conseil scolaire francophone provincial de Terre-Neuve-et Labrador

Eastern Regional Health Authority

Eastern Residential Support Board

Government of Newfoundland and Labrador

Grace Sparkes Home

Labrador Group Home

Labrador-Grenfell Regional Health Authority

Municipal Assessment Agency

Nalcor Energy

Newfoundland and

Labrador Arts Council

Newfoundland and

Labrador Centre for Health Information

Newfoundland and

Newfoundland and Labrador Film Development Corporation

Newfoundland and

Labrador Foster Families Association

Newfoundland and Labrador Housing Corporation

Newfoundland and

Labrador Legal Aid Commission

Newfoundland and Labrador Liquor Corporation

Provincial Advisory Council on the Status of Women - Newfoundland and Labrador

Provincial Information and Library Resources Board

Research and Development Council

Waypoints

Western Regional Health Authority

Workplace Health, Safety and Compensation Commission

Queen's Printer