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halifax
metronews.ca THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2011
ANDREW VAUGHAN/THE CANADIAN PRESS
Veteran John Labelle goes through security screening at Federal Court in Halifax yesterday. The court is hearing a class action lawsuit that alleges the federal government is illegally clawing back the long-term disability insurance benefits of injured veterans.
Veterans taking federal government to court over benefits Class-action lawsuit heard in a Halifax courtroom yesterday
Veterans challenge clawbacks to disability benefit Disability benefits for thousands of former Canadian Forces members are being unjustly clawed back because the payments have been unfairly deemed income, lawyers for the veterans argued yesterday in Federal Court. The veterans, who have launched a class-action suit against the federal government, said their long-term disability benefits are being reduced by the amount of their disability pensions, with some of the most gravely injured not receiving any of their pension. A dozen former military members, some using canes and one in a wheelchair, filed into the courtroom to hear arguments about what constitutes income and whether their monthly stipends should be reduced
“We say you are certainly not gaining by being paid something to accommodate your disability. To equate that with the concept of income ... is not a reasonable interpretation.” WARD BRANCH, A LAWYER FOR ONE OF THE CLAIMANTS
under their military insurance plan. Ward Branch, a lawyer for one of the claimants, argued the disability benefit they get from Veterans Affairs for injuries sustained in service is for pain and suffering and does not qual-
ify as income. The hearing is looking at whether the government has the legal right to claw back the disability benefit through the military insurance plan and if it is miscalculating the benefit. Dennis Manuge, who was injured in an accident at Canadian Forces Base Petawawa, Ont., just before being deployed to Bosnia in 2001, launched the lawsuit in 2007. It was certified by the Federal Court the following year. Manuge said outside court that his monthly Veterans Affairs pension was reduced by $10,000 in clawbacks between 2003, when he was released from the Forces, and 2005. “It is a pain-and-suffering payment for the noneconomic losses associated with acquiring a physical or
Legal? The hearing is looking at whether the government has the legal right to claw back the disability benefit through the military insurance plan and if it is miscalculating the benefit. Under the military insurance plan, injured veterans are entitled to a percentage of their former salaries. But the plan treats monthly pension payments as income and deducts the pension amount from what is paid to them. Some veterans claim they are losing upwards of $3,500 a month in clawbacks.
mental injury,” he said. “It is simply not income.” THE CANADIAN PRESS