Former NewPage workers's pension case settled
A dispute involving millions of dollars in pension money at the former NewPage paper mill in Port Hawkesbury has been resolved.
But some pensioners are not happy their cheques will be smaller for the next 10 years.
The company Morneau Shepell took over the pension plan in 2012.
It said the previous administrator, Aon Hewitt, had miscalculated the pensions of about 200 pensioners by roughly $5 million.
The two companies went to arbitration.
Paul Chang, who speaks for Morneau Shepell, says details of the settlement are confidential. But he says a number of pensioners will have to repay some of the money they received in error.
"The affected people received monies — they were overpaid, and they got more prior to 65 than they should have. What we're asking back from those people is 70 per cent of those overpayments," he says.
Chang says people do not have to pay back the money in a lump sum.
He says monthly cheques will be reduced over several years.
Pensioner, Harvey Warner, says that will mean great hardship. He gets $747 per month.
He says, as a result of this settlement, that's going to drop to less than $600 for the next ten years.
"It's gonna be pretty near bankruptcy — that's gonna be for a lot of us — that's widows, retirees, everything," he says.
He says the company that made the overpayments should pay for the mistake.
Warner says he and some other pensioners are considering taking the matter to court.
