Employer-Sponsored Pension Plans under the Charter

TL;DRAbstract

Employer-sponsored pension plans under the Ontario Pension Benefits Act discriminate against women because their structure and design are oriented to the typical male worker. Ms. Losie illustrates this and proposes a strategy under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to challenge the constitutionality of private pension legislation. The doctrine of discriminatory purpose and disproportionate impact are borrowed from American constitutional law and applied to the section 15 guarantees of "equal benefit of the law" and "equality under the law." Ms. Losie concludes that the narrow reading given to the American Bill of Rights can and should be rejected in favour of the broad language employed by the Charter so that discriminatory legislation might be more easily struck down.

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