OCUFA has been granted intervener status to participate in an Ontario Human Rights Tribunal case pertaining to a secondary school teacher who has been denied benefits by his employer because he is over the age of 65.
Following the elimination of mandatory retirement in Ontario in 2006, the protection of benefits for employees who are 65 or older has become an important issue for OCUFA. Currently, the Ontario Human Rights Code permits discrimination in employee benefits for those aged 65 and beyond, which OCUFA believes breaches s 15 (1) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Those who are 65 and older, and may be adversely affected, now represent 9% of all faculty in Ontario, up from 1.7% in 2006. Should this Charter challenge be successful, there could be important implications for the employment benefit provisions of post-65 professors and academic librarians.