Ravenlaw is proud to sponsor After the Storm a relief and recovery concert organized by CUPE 503 for those affected by the tornadoes that impacted the Ottawa/Gatineau area. The Tornado Relief Concert is free for all and will raise money for the victims of the September tornado and the long-term recovery effort required. The concert will be held on Saturday, November 10th at the TD Place arena. For more information on how to attend click here.
On February 6, 2019, David Yazbeck spoke on a panel on advocacy for sexual and reproductive health and rights. The panel was organized by Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights and Oxfam Canada. Panellists touched on aspects of advocacy from the grassroots to international efforts. Remarks were also given by the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Development, Kamal Khera, highlighting the federal government’s efforts in promoting sexual and reproductive health and rights, particularly its support for feminist and women’s rights organizations.
David is acting as pro bono counsel for Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights, which has intervened in an application for judicial review before the Federal Court. This application challenges the federal government’s requirement that organizations receiving summer jobs funding attest to their programs being consistent with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Action Canada has intervened to support the government’s position that this requirement is legitimate and necessary.
On October 31, 2018, Julia Williams participated in a panel discussion at the University of Ottawa on “Interview Landmines.” The panel was a Q&A with lawyers offering insight into how to deal with difficult questions about race, gender, sexual orientation, family plans, and more during recruitment processes. Julia would like to thank the University of Ottawa Association of Women and the Law (UOAWL), one of the largest equity-seeking groups at the University of Ottawa, for inviting her to participate in this event.
With the month of April just around the corner, you may be getting ready to prepare and file your taxes for 2020. Many people ask us whether their Long Term Disability premiums are a taxable benefit in Canada. While there is no easy yes or no answer here, we have provided the important information you may need below.
If you have been in receipt of disability benefits, you will need to understand the tax implications that apply to the disability benefit you have received. Different tax rules will apply depending on the type of benefit received, who paid the premiums for the benefit, and the total amount of income received by an individual in a given tax year.
Below, you will find summary information about the tax implications when you have been in receipt of disability benefits. This information provides a general review and the implications for your specific situation will differ depending on your specific circumstances. For answers about your specific circumstances, you should consult with a lawyer specialized in this area of practice or a tax professional.
The Employment Insurance program offers temporary financial assistance (up to a maximum of 15 weeks) to people unable to work because of sickness, injury or quarantine. These benefits are usually the first benefits received by an employee after they have exhausted their sick leave and they are unable to return to work because of continued injury or illness.
Employment Insurance benefits are taxable, which means that federal and provincial taxes will have been deducted from your EI payments prior to receipt. Depending on your total income for 2020, you may be required to repay a portion of EI benefits received when you file your taxes.
If you were in receipt of EI benefits, you will receive a T4E, “Statement of Employment Insurance and Other Benefits” slip, which will indicate if you are required to repay a portion of the EI received. The T4E is issued by Service Canada.
Short-Term Disability (STD) benefits and/or Long-Term Disability (LTD) benefits provide some income protection when a person is unable to work due to an illness or injury. You may access STD and LTD coverage through purchasing personal insurance coverage and/or through accessing group insurance coverage. Group insurance coverage is generally accessed via an employee benefit plan.
For more information on when and how to file a claim for Short-Term or Long-Term Disability benefits, please refer to our disability benefits page.
Whether tax is payable will depend on who has paid the premiums for the STD and/or LTD benefits. If any portion of the premiums for STD and/or LTD disability benefits were paid by your employer, the benefits are taxable. If all the premiums for your Short-Term or Long-Term Disability insurance were paid by you, the benefits are generally not taxed.
Given the importance of the taxability of these benefits, employers, unions, and employees should all be concerned about who pays the premiums on these benefit plans.
If you are unsure as to who is paying the premiums for your disability plan, you can contact your insurance provider and they will notify you as to whether your benefits are taxable or not.
The CPP disability benefit and QPP disability benefit are available to assist people who are unable to work in any capacity due to severe and prolonged disability. If you have qualified, and are receiving Canada Pension Plan Disability Benefits or Quebec Pension Plan Disability Pension, you should be aware that these benefits are taxable income. All the amounts received from CPP or QPP must be reported in your tax return.
You would receive a T4A(P) “Statement of Canada Pension Plan Benefits” tax slip at the beginning of the year if you received benefits from the CPP or the QPP. The T4A(P) will indicate the amount of benefits you received in the previous year. If you received QPP benefits, you would also receive a RL-2 “Relevé 2: Retirement and annuity income” slip.
The CRA offers several tax credits to offset a disabled individual’s tax liability. A common tax credit accessed by people receiving CPP Disability Benefits is the Disability Tax Credit (DTC). This is a non-refundable tax credit that is available to persons who are experiencing severe and prolonged disability.
The DTC tax credit assists to reduce the amount of income tax payable for persons with disabilities. Acknowledging that there are unavoidable additional expenses for persons with disabilities helps to provide greater tax equity.
Accessing this tax credit requires a separate application, and not all persons in receipt of disability benefits will qualify. To apply, a specific form (Form T2201) must be completed by a medical practitioner and submitted to the CRA. The CRA then determines eligibility based on the information provided by the medical practitioner.
A notice of determination will be provided to the applicant and will indicate which year(s) the applicant is eligible to claim the DTC. If the notice indicates that an applicant does not qualify, it will explain why. The notice may also include information about other programs that are available to individuals who qualify for the DTC.
If a person would have been eligible for the DTC in prior years, but had not applied when they filed those taxes, they can seek a reassessment of the prior tax returns through the CRA.
IMPORTANT LONG TERM DISABILITY TAX FORMS
If your income is below qualifying thresholds, you may be able to access free assistance to complete your tax returns through a community organization. More information about free tax clinics to assist Canadians can be found by following this link.
Consult one of our experienced Long-Term Disability lawyers at Raven, Cameron, Ballantyne and Yazbeck LLP if you have any questions.
On November 6 and 7, 2018, Morgan Rowe presented to University of Ottawa students as part of two panels on careers in labour law. Morgan spoke specifically about her experiences working on behalf of unions and individual employees. Morgan would like to thank Professor Ravi Malhotra and the Employment and Labour Law Student Society for inviting her to participate on these panels.
Please note our office will be closed from December 22, 2018 until January 1, 2019. We will reopen for regular business hours on Wednesday, January 2, 2019 at 8:30 am.
Warmest wishes for a happy holiday season and a wonderful new year.
On December 4, 2018, Lancaster House presented its 2018 Bargaining in the Broader Public Sector Conference at the Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel. The conference tackled current issues facing unions and their members when dealing with collective bargaining in the broader public sector, including such key issues as the role of politics and the Charter at the bargaining table, the changing face of the workforce, and the future of work.
David Yazbeck was pleased to be selected as the union-side co-chair for this conference and to assist in organizing the conference and moderating various panels during the day.
RavenLaw is pleased to announce that David Yazbeck has been appointed to the Board of Directors of Copyright Visual Arts – Droits d’outeur Arts visuels (COVA-DAAV). COVA-DAAV is the business operating name of CARCC, which is a copyright collective founded by Canadian Artists’ Representation – Le Front des Artistes Canadiens (CARFAC) in 1990 to assist artists in administering their copyrights. David is also a member of the Board of CARFAC and, as part of the governance structure for COVA-DAAV, CARFAC is entitled to appoint board members to the COVA-DAAV Board.
David is excited for this opportunity to continue his advocacy efforts on behalf of visual artists in Canada, particularly as it relates to protecting and promoting artists’ copyright in Canada and Quebec. Any interested artists from Canada and Quebec may affiliate with Copyright Visual Arts.
In 2017, the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Tribunal rendered its first decision on the merits of a reprisal complaint under the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act. As the first decision on the merits, a number of critical issues of legal principle were raised by the parties. Ultimately, the Tribunal ruled on several of these issues, a ruling which had significant implications for future Tribunal cases. In particular, the Tribunal concluded:
In addition to these legal rulings, the Tribunal dismissed the complaint on the facts, concluding that the employee had not proven that she experienced negative effects as a result of the alleged reprisal measures.
The employee sought judicial review of the Tribunal decision. In a judgment rendered this month, the Federal Court of Appeal dismissed the application, concluding that the Tribunal’s findings that there was no negative effect on the employee could not be set aside.
Counsel had urged the Court to address the legal issues given their impact upon other cases. The Court declined to do so, because this would take it “too far into a law-making role”. In spite of this, the Court went on to comment upon the Tribunal’s analysis as follows:
“But we wish to add that many of the legal conclusions reached by the Tribunal in this case warrant critical scrutiny. As a matter of administrative law, other members of the Tribunal are not bound by the legal conclusions reached here… If the particular case requires it, and until this Court settles the matter, a member of the Tribunal is free to conduct her or his own analysis and reach different legal conclusions.”
By this language, it would appear that the Court has signaled that the reasoning of the Tribunal on these legal issues need not be followed in the future, a conclusion which represents significant progress for complainants who are victims of reprisal.
The employee in this matter was represented by David Yazbeck and Michael Fisher of our firm.
On September 29, 2018, Julia Williams was a panelist at the Ontario Region – Canadian Association of Labour Lawyers’ second annual conference (OnCALL2) in Kingston, Ontario. Julia participated in the “Ten Minute Labour Lawyer” panel, presenting on the recent arbitral decision in City of Kingston v CUPE 109. Julia would like to thank the organizers of OnCALL2 for inviting her to participate in this event.