Law Times

Law Times • January 11, 2016 Page 3 www.lawtimesnews.com They have 'judge-like responsibilities' Masters Remuneration Commission urges salary bump BY NEIL ETIENNE Law Times F or more than 20 years, case management masters haven't been paid what they deserve, according to the head of a commission looking into their compensation. e head of the First Case Man - agement Masters Remuneration Commission found compensation for the position has long been "in- adequate in relation to their level of authority and responsibilities." For most of the past 20 years, the masters have "shouldered more than their fair share of the burden during difficult economic times and have been grossly undercompen - sated during periods of economic prosperity," found inquiry commis- sioner Larry Banack in his "Report of the First Case Management Mas- ters Remuneration Commission: A Way Forward," a nearly 200-page tome released in December. He recommended salaries for case management masters should be increased to the level of pro - vincial court judges, which is what traditional masters were paid until the last of them retired this year. Banack wrote in the recommen - dations that paying them the same as provincial court judges is neces- sary to ensure "the minimal level of financial security that is a constitu- tional imperative." Any less "would represent a threat to the integrity of our system of justice" and would be inconsistent with the principles of judicial independence. "I emphasize that this level of salary is the minimum adequate level for Case Management Mas - ters, who exercise a much greater range of judicial duties than Tradi- tional Masters," Banack wrote. Calling the commission report a major next step in a long process that began with calls for financial equality between case management and traditional masters in 2000, Colleen Bauman of Goldblatt Part - ners LLP, who acted on behalf of the Masters' Association of Ontario in the inquiry, says the recommenda- tions are a vindication. "It's clearly a strong affirmation and vindication of the value of the master's work and its importance and the fact [that] for far too long the masters have been sorely un - dercompensated in violation of key constitutional principles of ju- dicial independence," she said. "at needs to be addressed and rectified immediately." e provincial government's Treasury Board Secretariat will have four months to cra a re - sponse to the report and Bauman hopes it will accept all of Banack's recommendations. e inquiry commission was established to investigate the com - pensation for case management masters who essentially perform the same tasks as their traditional master predecessors, if not a sub - stantially increased workload, ac- cording to Bauman. Yet, as of 2015, they earn about $94,000 less in sal- ary and about $100,000 less annu- ally in pensions. Banack recommended salaries be set at $262,000 as of April 2011 and indexed equivalently to those of provincial court judges for each subsequent year. "e types of work they do has increased over the years, particu - larly in comparison to what was the traditional master," Bauman explained. "e report clearly rec- ognizes they have taken over the complete role of the traditional master plus more and that it is both unfair and unconstitutional to be paying them the low level they have been compensated. ey have to be recognized as full judi - cial officers." e commissioner also touched briefly on the issue of gender equality in the role. "Currently, nearly 50 per cent [nine of 16] of case management masters are female, while all ap - pointed traditional masters were male," he wrote. "Both offices have performed precisely the same role in the Superior Court of Justice, with case management masters also responsible for many ad - ditional functions. As discussed, case management masters have in fact taken on greater, more judge- like responsibilities over time." For the sake of fairness and the law, remuneration of the two offices must reflect the concept of "equal pay for equal work," Banack wrote. e inquiry made recommen - dations on the time period starting in April 2011, when case manage- ment masters received their last increase, to March 31, 2016. Along with the increase in salaries, the commissioner also recommended masters be moved into the Provincial Judges Pension Plan. Banack noted that masters are currently part of the public ser - vice pension programs, which are inadequate for judicial officers. He said the fact their pensions were so much lower than those of other judicial officers performing similar functions was "inexplicable." "Government has benefited from years of savings during which Case Management Masters were provided with unsuitably low pen - sions," Banack wrote. "e expense that must now be incurred is nec- essary to provide Case Manage- ment Masters with a constitution- ally appropriate level of financial security. A continuation of the current disparity in pension en- titlement cannot be justified." Along with the more formal recommendations, Banack also suggested the government make "an immediate change to the title of this judicial office from 'Case Management Master' to simply 'Master,'" saying the current title is a gross misrepresentation of the role and that it "offends against the dig - nity and history of this important judicial office." "Despite these difficult situ- ations in regards to the remu- neration, masters have shown an incredible dedication and com- mitment to making our civil jus- tice system work," Bauman said. "e name is really a misnomer; although they do some case man- agement work, that is only a por- tion of the work that they do and they truly are masters as the tradi- tional masters were." LT NEWS Colleen Bauman says case management masters 'have to be recognized as full judi- cial officers.' Langlois lawyers, LLP langlois.ca Untitled-3 1 2016-01-06 9:40 AM

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