LEGAL NOTICE - Are you a former employee of Orkin Canada Corporation (formerly known as PCO Services Inc.) who opted into Orkin's Employee Pension Plan?

If so, a pension rectification application before the Ontario Superior Court of Justice (the "Application") affects you. 

TORONTO, Nov. 20, 2024 /CNW/ -

WHEN? The Application is scheduled to be heard by the Court in Toronto on December 2, 2024. No action is required from you.

WHO IS AFFECTED? Former members, pensioners, and active members under the Registered Pension Plan for Employees of Orkin Canada Corporation (Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario ("FSRA") No. 0684829) (the "Plan") from September 1, 1988 to present. 

WHAT IS THE APPLICATION ABOUT? The purpose of the rectification application is to correct a recently discovered and unintended drafting error in the Plan text, which does not accurately reflect how the Plan has been administered since its inception. The proposed rectification would amend the Plan text regarding the employer-contribution scale, retroactively to September 1, 1988, when the Plan was first registered with FSRA, the provincial pension regulator.

WHAT IS THE ERROR AT ISSUE? The drafting error relates to the employer-contribution scale in the Plan text having been erroneously based on years of service, rather than on years of membership in the Plan. The Plan text contains an employer-contribution scale increasing from 2% to 4% of the member's earnings upon five completed years of "service" or "employment". However, the intent of the Plan was for the employer-contribution scale to be based on completed years of "membership" in the Plan. This error was carried forward in all amended and restated versions of the Plan text since its inception, but the Plan has always been and continues to be administered in accordance with the intention that Orkin's contribution to the Plan increased to 4% of earnings for each Plan member upon five years of Plan membership. 

Orkin has evidence to show that the Plan has been carried out consistently as if the drafting error did not exist.

WHY IS RECTIFICATION NEEDED? The proposed rectification would ensure that the Plan text is consistent with how the Plan has always been administered – in accordance with the intended employer-contribution scheme, which Orkin has provided to Plan members since the Plan's inception. 

In particular, the rectification would amend the Plan text effective September 1, 1988, to confirm that the employer-contribution scale noted in the Plan is based on the members' completed years of membership in the Plan rather than the members' completed years of service or employment with Orkin, and that Orkin was and is to provide a contribution of 4% of the Members' earnings upon five completed years of membership in the Plan. 

If the rectification order is granted, there will be no change in how pension benefits under the Plan are calculated and paid. 

IS FSRA INVOLVED? The provincial pension regulator of Ontario, FSRA, is aware of this issue and has been given notice of the Application. FSRA would be required to approve the proposed retroactive amendments, and has stated that it would support a rectification order from the Court in this respect.

WHAT ARE YOUR OPTIONS? No action is required from you. If you wish to obtain a copy of the Application materials (including affidavit evidence describing the facts and including the relevant documents), they can be found here: www.orkinpensionnotice.com. If you intend to address the Court at the hearing of the Application, please provide notice no later than November 26, 2024, which is 4 days before the scheduled final order hearing on December 2, 2024. If you wish to contact a lawyer, you may refer to the Law Society of Ontario's Directory:

https://lso.ca/public-resources/finding-a-lawyer-orparalegal/lawyer-and-paralegal-directory

QUESTIONS? VISIT WWW.ORKINPENSIONNOTICE.COM

SOURCE Borden Ladner Gervais LLP