Long-Term Disability Benefits Bill

Read the BC Coalition of People with Disabilities’ letter to MPs and Senators asking them to support Senator Art Eggleton’s Bill S-216 which would amend the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act and the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act. The Bill will prevent Canadians who need Long Term Disability (LTD) benefits from being denied income supports when companies with uninsured plans become insolvent.

The BC Coalition of People with Disabilities has written to MPs and Senators asking them to support Senator Art Eggleton’s Bill S-216 which would amend the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act and the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act. The Bill will prevent Canadians who need Long Term Disability (LTD) benefits from being denied income supports when companies with uninsured plans become insolvent.

June 1st 2010

Letter from BC Coalition of People with Disabilities

Re: Long-term Disability and Bill S-216

The BC Coalition of People with Disabilities (BCCPD) is extremely concerned about the plight of 400 Nortel employees who have been receiving Long Term Disability (LTD) Benefits. As a result of Nortel’s insolvency, these employees who cannot work because of their disability will no longer receive the income supports to which they believed they were entitled through the insurance company, Sun Life.

Unfortunately, Sun Life was administering Nortel’s LTD plan, not insuring it. Now that Nortel has filed for bankruptcy protection it has a court-approved arrangement to stop paying disability benefits at the end of 2010. This means these 400 individuals will have to rely on federal or provincial disability benefits for their income support. Many will find themselves forced to live below the poverty line.

This tragic situation for Nortel employees is apparently part of a widespread problem. The Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association has noted that similar uninsured plans “provided 1.1 million people with disability income protection in 2008 — about one in 10 Canadian employees.” Given the current challenging economic climate, many more Canadians with disabilities could find themselves without LTD benefits.

Senator Art Eggleton’s Bill S-216 would amend the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act and the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act so that beneficiaries of long-term disability benefit plans are protected. The BCCPD respectfully urges all Members of Parliament to support Bill S-216 so that the situation Nortel’s employees find themselves in will never again be experienced by Canadians whose disability means they are unable to work.

Sincerely, Johanna Johnson, President
Jane Dyson, Executive Director