On April 30, 2020, the Pensions Regulator published its 2020 funding statement for defined benefit (DB) schemes with valuation dates between September 22, 2019, and September 21, 2020. However, these COVID-19 times are challenging for all businesses, and the effects of the pandemic are relevant to all DB schemes. The statement urges collaboration between … Continue reading
UK Pensions – Could ethical veganism impact on future pension fund investments? January 2020 In an employment tribunal preliminary hearing on 3 January 2020, Judge Robin Postle ruled that ethical veganism satisfies the tests required for it to be a philosophical belief, with the result that it was protected under the Equality Act 2010. For … Continue reading
Trustees of UK pension schemes which include old guaranteed minimum pensions have got a bit of a dilemma on their hands at the moment. They have to equalise benefits between men and women to paper over the inherent inequality in the GMPs themselves, which means correcting past underpayments. There are many questions raised by … Continue reading
UK Pensions: beware inheritance tax on pension transfers made shortly before death In a recent UK case (HMRC v Parry) the Court of Appeal found that inheritance tax was due on pension benefits which were transferred out of a defined benefits (or final salary) to a defined contribution (or money purchase) scheme shortly before a … Continue reading
On 16 May 2019, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) published a periodic, government-conducted review which examines the continuing need, efficiency and good governance of the Pensions Regulator (TPR). This tailored review was conducted between August and November 2018 and led by Jamey Johnson, the former Chief Officer for Pension Wise (which is now … Continue reading
BIC UK Ltd v Burgess [2019] – employer appeal successful: retrospective amendment re-wrote history to an impermissible extent The Court of Appeal (CA) has unanimously ruled that a retrospective amendment to the deed and rules of the BIC UK Pension Scheme (the Scheme) was invalid. Last year, the High Court had ruled that whilst the … Continue reading
Aside from the particular legislation prohibiting discrimination of employees on specific grounds such as age or gender, the French employment code does not provide for specific provisions concerning a more general principle which require the avoidance of inequality of treatment in the workplace. However, case law has progressively established this principle, particularly concerning remuneration, working … Continue reading
The decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in IBM Canada Limited v Richard Waterman, [2013] 3 S.C.R. 985, considered whether employees’ pension benefits should be deducted from damages for wrongful dismissal. The majority concluded, on the facts of this case, that no such deduction should occur. The company dismissed a 65-year-old employee without cause after 42 years of service. The … Continue reading
Under German law, employers are obliged to check regularly (at least every three years) whether benefit payments from company pensions ought to be adjusted for inflation. In their check they may consider the company’s economic situation. Employers are not obliged to increase pension payments if they believe (and such belief is reasonable with a sufficient … Continue reading
In Germany, employees have the statutory right to ask their employers to pay part of their future earnings – up to 4 % of the relevant contribution assessment ceiling for the statutory pension fund – into an occupational pension scheme through the conversion of earnings into pension contributions. The German Federal Labour Court recently ruled … Continue reading
Having developed over decades, the social insurance scheme in China has been gradually unified nationwide and is now primarily regulated by the PRC Social Insurance Law (SIL), which came into effect in 2011. Prior to the SIL, the social insurance scheme in China was regulated by various administrative regulations. The SIL consolidated the social insurance … Continue reading
By Global Workplace Insider Team on Posted in Canada,Québec
Last week, we covered one issue that might be of interest to those wanting to do business in Canada: employment contracts. This week, we would like to highlight another section of Norton Rose Fulbright Canada’s guide to Doing business in Canada: employee benefits and pensions. In Canada, employee benefits and retirement income programs are provided through … Continue reading