....................     ........... 

    ◊Home
 

    ◊About Us
     ◦Mission Statement
     ◦Who We Are
     ◦Privacy Statement
     ◦Executive Committee
     ◦Constitution
    

    ◊Class Action
   

   ◊Important Contacts

      ◦Re Settlement Proposal

      ◦Plan Administrator 

     ◦FSCO

     ◦CLPENS   

    ◊AGM Minutes
 

    ◊Compte rendu AGA
 

    ◊Indexation
     ◦Indexed Pension Table
     ◦Indexing Factors
 

    ◊About the Website
     ◦What's New

    ◊FAQ
    ◦CLPENS
    ◦Pensions
    ◦Surplus
    ◦Recently Terminated
 

    ◊Links
 

    ◊Glossary
 

    ◊Contact Us
 

    ◊Appendix

Supplementary Plan (SERP)

In Newsletter 29 (May 2006), we announced that CLPENS would no longer be involved in the SERP issue.  The text of the statement is as follows:

"The mandate of CLPENS is to safeguard the interests of the registered plan members.  Accordingly as indicated in the last newsletter, we have had initial discussions with our actuarial advisors, Robertson Eadie and Associates, and our legal advisors, Koskie Minsky.
 

Our actuarial advisors have confirmed that the partial wind-up of the SERP has had no effect on the surplus position of the registered plan. CLPENS will not pursue the SERP issue further."
 

However, as reported at the CLPENS 2007 Annual Meeting, a SERP action is being pursued independently of CLPENS, and any interested members may contact either Dennis Caponi at 416-367-4417 or Mark Zigler of Koskie Minsky LLP at 416-595-2090 for further information.

The following overview is retained here for historical purposes.

Overview

SERP is an acronym which stands for Supplemental Employee Retirement Plan.   In common usage this means any plan which provides a pension to be added to the maximum pension that the income tax rules will allow in a registered plan.

At Canada Life there existed a SERP for many years, but it was an informal arrangement approved by the Board of Directors.   Basically the Directors said that, at retirement, a person’s pension would be calculated using the plan formula as if the income tax maximum did not exist.   The excess over what the registered plan was allowed to pay would be paid out of Company funds.   Until recently, anyone who was in receipt of a pensionable salary of about $100,000 would be eligible for a benefit from the SERP.

Around the time the Company demutualized, the SERP was made into a formal plan with the necessary funds put into a trust.   This meant that, from that time onward, eligible employees could rely upon a specific plan rather than just a promise from the Directors which could have been repealed by any future Board.                     

In 2005, Great West decided to wind up the new formal plan for certain members.   However, thanks to those who decided to formalize the plan and trustee the assets, Great West is obligated to provide a fair value to each person affected.

Page Last Revised

07 May 2011

Home | Class Action | About Us | What's New?

FAQ | Links | Contact Us | Appendix