08/11/2021
The Federal Court has certified a class action seeking damages for Veterans Affairs Canada’s alleged underpayment of disability benefits to class members due to a supposed miscalculation in pension adjustment rates under s. 75 of the Pension Act.
Veterans Affairs Canada released a statement in 2018 addressing this issue and has been making corrective payments since September 2019, said a news release from class counsel Daniel Wallace, a lawyer at McInnis Cooper LLP. The class action submits that class members are entitled to additional payments, including those caused by other alleged errors in calculation.
The class is estimated to number around 270,000 members. It is composed of current and former members of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, as well as their spouses, common-law partners, dependants, survivors, orphans or estates. The class members are those who, sometime between 2002 and the present, have received certain benefits administered by Veterans Affairs Canada, including disability pensions and disability awards.