Age as a Barrier to Benefits
March 5, 2026
The Issue Summarized
If you’re well into middle age like me, you may remember that Canada used to have mandatory retirement. At age 65, employees in Canada were compelled by law to retire. Canada’s views on age discrimination changed over the years and, and by December 15, 2012, the Government of Canada ended mandatory retirement for federal workers. This new thinking about mandatory retirement followed prior provincial changes: through 2005 and 2009, many provinces had already eliminated forced retirement at age 65.
What has been far slower to change are age barriers to receiving benefits like long-term disability (LTD) and pension. Some employers, such as SFU, have clauses in their LTD and pension text that prohibit employees who are age 65 from receiving these benefits. For example, if you were 66 and started working for SFU, you would receive a notice from SFU Human Resources highlighting your ineligibility for both LTD and Pension. If you got sick for an extended period, rather than having access to LTD coverage for that period, you would receive no pay – you would be placed on unpaid medical leave once you’ve exhausted your short-term sick leave benefits. In the case of a pension, you simply receive no pension contributions from SFU, unlike younger workers.
As you may imagine, employers like SFU do save money on hiring employees age 65+. While I don’t know how much SFU may save on LTD coverage for older hires, they save in the range of 14-15% by not having to provide pension contributions. In short, an APSA employee aged 45 costs at least 14-15% more than an APSA employee hired at age 65+.
Sidebar: ironically, it is important to note that SFU faculty members, as members of the College Pension Plan, do not face the same age prohibitions as members (APSA, CUPE and PolyParty) in the SFU Pension Plan. The College Pension Plan doesn’t include similar age barriers.
But Is It right?
Most Canadian human rights codes prohibit age discrimination in employment. Some provincial jurisdictions permit employers like SFU to have pension and insurance plans gate kept by age caps. In B.C., for example, Section 13(3)(b) of the B.C. Human Rights Code creates an exception to the prohibition for a so-called bona fide group or employee insurance plan. While I won’t speak to the issue of how the term “bona fide” has generally been defined in case law, the key point is that the practice of prohibiting older workers from receiving certain benefits has had a legally interpretative basis.
Where the good news lies, at least if you’re an older APSA member, is that the Human Rights landscape in Canada is evolving. More and more cases are now coming forward that address providing benefits to older workers and question the legal justification for benefit prohibitions for employees age 65+.
In B.C., for example, a recent case — Okanagan College v Okanagan College Faculty Association, 2024 — determined that the Okanagan College pension plan wasn’t a bona fide one and included impermissible age discrimination. While this case delved deeply into what counts as a bona fide plan (it’s also complicated…), the key here is that case law is starting to swing in favour of employees hired at age 65+.
What APSA Is Doing for You?
APSA has filed two separate grievances that argue the University’s LTD and pension plan’s prohibition on age 65+ APSA members receiving LTD and Pension benefits amounts to discrimination on the basis of age. While I would like to tell you that SFU agrees with us, even places of higher learning can be slow to change. Regardless, APSA is actively pursuing these cases in arbitration and other forums and keeping a close eye on the evolving case law. For us, the issues certainly look like age-ism.
If you’re an APSA member who was hired by SFU when you were age 65+* and didn’t receive pension and LTD benefits upon your hiring, we would love to speak with you further. As always, speaking to us is 100% confidential.
* Important note: The issues I’m raising here only apply to APSA members who were age 65+ when they were hired. If SFU hired you before age 65, you won’t lose your pension contributions at age 65.