Manitobans with disabilities can’t be forced to take early CPP, court rules

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This article was published 06/05/2020 (1982 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Forcing disabled people who are on social assistance to apply early for their CPP benefits is discriminatory, and could doom them to a life of poverty, Manitoba’s highest court has ruled.

A provincial regulation requiring income assistance recipients to apply for Canada Pension Plan benefits when they reach the age of 60, instead of 65, “widens the gap between persons with disabilities who receive income assistance and the rest of society by perpetuating their dependence on income assistance,” Manitoba Court of Appeal Justice Freda Steel wrote in a 39-page decision released Tuesday.

“Its effect is to permanently reduce their income for the rest of their lives due to a temporary or situational need at the age of 60.”

Martin Stadler, a former computer engineer, was unable to work due to health problems and was receiving income assistance in 2014, when a case worker advised him he would have to start collecting CPP benefits the following year when he turned 60.

Stadler told his case worker he did not want to apply for early CPP benefits, as they would be permanently reduced by 36 per cent.

Stadler appealed the case to the Social Services Appeal Board, arguing the early application requirement breached his charter right to equal treatment under the law. While still awaiting a ruling, Stadler, unable to meet his expenses, applied for early CPP benefits, as he had been told to do.

In 2018, the appeal board upheld the application requirement, finding Stadler would receive income assistance to cover any reduction in income, and “will not be financially worse off than he is now, although he may be worse off at age 65 than he would have been with a reduced pension.”

“The bedrock of Stadler’s argument is that in his case, because of his disability, the impact of this particular regulation will not merely last while he is on income assistance,” Steel said. “The adverse impact in this case is permanent… The impact on Stadler affects the rest of his future forever, and may very well doom him to a life on income assistance.”

The Manitoba Court of Appeal ordered disabled income assistance recipients be excluded from the requirement to apply for CPP benefits before the age of 65, and Stadler not be required to apply for CPP benefits until the age of 65, retroactive to the date of his original application.

“A regulation that requires a disabled individual presently on income assistance to give up a significant portion of what little financial security they may have for the future only continues and entrenches their disadvantaged financial position,” Steel said.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca