Overview
Workplace pensions are a vital part of Canada's retirement income system, but these plans have reached a state of crisis as a result of their low coverage and inadequate, insecure, and unequally distributed benefits. Reviewing pension plans through a legal and historical lens, Empty Promises reveals the paradoxical effects and inevitable failure of a pension system built on the interests of employers rather than employees. Elizabeth Shilton examines the evolution of pension law in Canada from the 1870s to the early twenty-first century, highlighting the foreseeably futile struggle of legislators to create and sustain employees' pension rights without undermining employers' incentives. The current system gives employers considerable discretion and control in pension design and administration. Shilton appeals for a model that is not hostage to business interests. She recommends replacing today's employer-controlled systems with pensions shaped by the public interest, expanding mandatory broad-based or state-pension systems such as the Canada Pension Plan to generate pensions that respond to the changing workplace and address the needs and interests of retirees. Engaging with the long-running debate on whether Canadians should look to government or to the private sector for retirement income security, Empty Promises is a crucial work concerned with the future of the Canadian retirement system.
Full Product Details
Author: Elizabeth J. Shilton ,
Elizabeth J. Shilton
Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press
Imprint: McGill-Queen's University Press
Dimensions:
Width: 15.20cm
, Height: 2.80cm
, Length: 22.90cm
Weight: 0.567kg
ISBN: 9780773547872
ISBN 10: 0773547878
Pages: 312
Publication Date: 22 August 2016
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Tertiary & Higher Education
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Out of stock
The supplier is temporarily out of stock of this item. It will be ordered for you on backorder and shipped when it becomes available.
Reviews
Empty Promises is a very accessible work the writing is clear, and elegant. Elizabeth Shilton has done an impressive job of making complex legal concepts, rules, and cases easy to understand. Retirement security and pension coverage are high on the public policy agenda, and this book will be of interest to readers concerned about these issues. - Freya Kodar, University of Victoria
"" Empty Promises is a very accessible work - the writing is clear, and elegant. Retirement security and pension coverage are high on the public policy agenda, and Elizabeth Shilton has done an impressive job of making complex legal concepts, rules, and cases easy to understand."" Freya Kodar, University of Victoria
Author Information
Elizabeth J. Shilton is senior fellow and adjunct professor in the Centre for Law in the Contemporary Workplace at Queen' s University.
