Top court rules against N.B. miner in mandatory retirement case
The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled against a New Brunswick miner who had challenged his company's right to compel him to retire at age 65.
Melrose Scott was forced to retire from his job at the Sussex potash mines in 2004, the year he turned 65, as a requirement of his employee pension plan. He filed a complaint with the New Brunswick Human Rights Commission and won, but the decision was appealed all the way to the top court in Ottawa.
The province's act now prohibits mandatory retirement, but includes a provision allowing companies to enforce mandatory retirement under the terms or conditions of any retirement or pension plan.
‘It's a bit ufortunate that there seems to be a need to have one law that applies to everyone.’
--Doug Burt
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In its decision released Friday, the Supreme Court wrote that unless there is evidence that the pension plan as a whole is not legitimate, it will be protected by the province's Human Rights Act "from the conclusion that a particular provision compelling retirement at a certain age constitutes age discrimination."
At the time, Saskatoon-based Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan, which owns the mines, had pension rules requiring employees to retire at 65. It has since changed its pension rules.
Scott said he knew about the company policy when he began working for the company 23 years ago, but realized over the years that mandatory retirement was discriminatory.
His complaint was upheld by the N.B. Human Rights Commission, which said the provision was discriminatory based on age.
The Court of Queen's Bench later overturned the tribunal's ruling, and the New Brunswick Court of Appeal, in a 2-1 judgment, rejected Scott's appeal.
Nova Scotia is the only province to still allow mandatory retirement, but the province passed legislation to eliminate mandatory retirement last year. It won't come into effect until 2009.
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