Imagine you’d applied for LTD 8 yrs ago and were denied. Then you reapplied in 2022, same doctor, same medical but this time the employer didn’t sabotage your submission by lying to SL and the union was seem to be helping.
But LTD company doesn’t let you be, they are on you constantly and between them, employer, union, you are donefore, pushed out and retire in 2023. LTD company thrm claws back your DI payment for 12 months. Then months later they direct you to apply for CPP-D even though you don’t want it. Service Canada notice says the application and 2 appeals fail. Many letters and battles with LTD company as they say you have to start over and redo the initial CPP-D application. You refuse and this escalated to ombudsman. They won’t admit thsy are wrong but now they back off and you are told to apply to SST for permission for late appeal they grant it. Then you appeal-you make it clear you don’t want it, it’s unethical to steal money from someone on disability, you make little effort, no new info, no new medical, no response to minister letter. And there it is - even with a written hearing the SST reverses the decision. The decision is backdated 40 months!!!
So the aftermath
If user 65, retired, going ahead you lose the bridge benefit ( around 650$ or more a month)
Then you owe the government the clawback from the time you took retirement, then you are paying them around 17,600
You are on the hook for repaying the LTD company for the amount you know will get from CPP-D to tje start date you started to get benefits. For example if it’s 40 months that about 69,000
Then you have to pay taxes to CRA so that would mean calling them to see if you can get that distributed across the years and under the tax rules for that particular year. Assuming the LTD company also has to pay tax and the government double dips into your retro pay.
so it’s a casino day for everyone and everyone hits the jackpot but you. You may end up with less or similar or a little more on a monthly payment, but you are now out of pocket for the retro pay and the taxes. No one gives a rats *** if the LTD company erroneously or frivolously denied your claim in the first place and delayed the process, or they were responsible for the long delays and the fighting between getting the appeals done and trying to force you in the wrong direction. It’s all your fault that this was so slow and you get punished for it.
The system can definitely be grim. My job involved a lot of paperwork, and the disability paperwork was so much that I remember thinking jeez if I could handle this in the timeline they were asking for then I would be able to do my job. The most severely disabled people having to pay taxes on CPPD out of pocket was a particularly bitter pill
I am sorry your journey has been so frustrating, I feel you
That’s absolutely it. It becomes its own full-time job except you’re not compensated it and has no benefits for a career. It’s just ours days weeks months and years grinding away to defend yourself.
I have learned a great deal and would have definitely done things different so I have that as something I can take away I may write some material or even do a blog series because I do have an in-depth understanding after eight years of this.
Thanks for your reply. I’ve contacted Service Canada today and the pension center as well.
There’s absolutely no help to figure all this out coming from the employer. Once you retired you are off the back of the wagon and or under the bus and it’s up to you to figure things out. If you don’t know what to ask, then you end up in a bind, even if you ask, you may not get a response or a correct one.
Having a form like this is really helpful and it would be fantastic if there was a federal resource. The only federal retiree organization there is focuses on travel, medical and dental benefits, and old age homes. It’s pretty pathetic to think this model has survived this long and there is absolutely no capacity for advocacy or help to deal with what we’re all going through. And better yet unions get off their you know what and spell it out.
I prefer Tax to be taken off at the source so that I’m not facing any issues on filing at the end of the year. I got that straightened out today so they know to do that before they even issue a first payment.
I will speak to CRA once I have all the calculations and everything and ask them to spread the tax over several years.