CPCO Legal Benefit Plan

September 1, 2008

Dear Colleague,

The Catholic Principals’ Council of Ontario offers a legal benefit plan as one of its membership services. The service is administered by STERLON Underwriting Managers Ltd., which provides initial consulting and legal advice to you. If further service is required, STERLON will assign legal counsel. This service covers a number of areas that are not covered by OSBIE (Ontario School Boards Insurance Exchange). Those areas include criminal charges, workplace safety, employment disputes, complaints to the Ontario College of Teachers and parental harassment.

In 2008 a Member Support Team was created to provide professional advice in non-legal situations. This team is comprised of experienced principals around the province who can provide confidential advice on any professional matter. This service is also accessed by calling STERLON.

Since May 1998, over 3,500 calls have been made to STERLON. In the last 24 months, there were 630 calls resulting in 203 legal service claims. 17 were complaints to the Ontario College of Teachers in which CPCO Members were defended from discipline or termination. 54 other claims CPCO Members received legal support to stop defamation and/or harassment by parents.  Employment disputes with school boards produced more than 77 claims with an additional 2 claims involving alleged criminal dishonesty. The greatest increase was in the area of Human Rights for which 18 legal files were open.

While it remains the primary responsibility of school boards to indemnify principals and vice-principals in most cases, CPCO members have appreciated the critical support of their own CPCO-assigned lawyer to protect their individual interests even when a board has assigned a lawyer.

In addition to these services STERLON also provides Personal Telephone Legal Advice for non-professional matters involving members or their family members. This service has been used extensively and, when required, members have been referred to legal agencies if personal legal representation is needed. (Your costs associated with any personal legal representation are not included in the coverage). To access legal services after you become a member of CPCO, please call 1-888-783-7566.

CPCO members have been very satisfied with these services. They are very confident that their needs will be met should the need ever arise. CPCO Legal Services can protect your career and your future. If you have any questions, please call me at 1-888-621-9190.

Sincerely,

Dan Tighe
Interim Executive Director
Catholic Principals' Council of Ontario

Print out this letter - in Adobe Format