Scholarship Plan

At the time this booklet was written, the hourly contribution rate varied, depending on the Collective Agreement and was not required in every Collective Agreement with the Local Union. In addition to LIUNA Local 493 members working for a contributing employer, the office staff of the Local Union is also covered.

You can determine whether your employer is contributing to the Scholarship Fund by referring to the Collective Agreement governing your employment where you are working.

Contributions are exclusively employer contributions. Employee contributions are neither required nor permitted.

This is a group benefit and the employer contributions to the plan are the property of the Labourers’ Local 493 Scholarship Trust. The tracking of a member dollar bank is used to record and regulate member eligibility for scholarship benefits and does not represent any direct claim on assets by any member of the plan.

The Plan Administrator creates and maintains a record for every person on whose behalf a Scholarship Fund Contribution is received. You are eligible to apply for an award for an eligible child or grandchild when you have earned contributions of at least $150 for Eligible Educational Courses commencing on/after January 1, 2007.

Once you have satisfied the Initial Eligibility and the Plan Administrator has received at least $150 in contributions you are eligible to apply for awards, provided that you are a member in good standing and working at the calling for a LIUNA Local 493 Collective Agreement Employer within 12 months from date of application and the date the claim is filed. Retirees and Disabled members are also eligible. Each award granted will result in a $50* deduction from your dollar bank at the time of completion of the first school year within a given program.

To maintain subsequent eligibility, you need to accumulate additional contributions for eligible Educational Courses commencing on/after January 1, 2007 (in increments of $50* per award) to a maximum of $150. Any excess contributions over the maximum amount of $150 will be transferred to the general assets of the Scholarship Trust Fund to be used for award payments and to defray operating costs.  You must remain a member in good standing and working at the calling for a LIUNA Local 493 Collective Agreement Employer within 12 months from date of application and the date the claim is filed.

*Retirees – Once you are retired and the plan is no longer receiving contributions on your behalf, $25 will be deducted from your eligibility to give you a maximum of 6 awards from the time of retirement.

In the event that you are no longer a Member in Good Standing of LIUNA Local 493, or you are no longer employed by LIUNA Local 493, you are no longer eligible to apply for an award.

In the event that you leave LIUNA Local 493, and re-join or are re-employed by the Local Union at a later date, you will be required to again complete the initial eligibility requirement of $150, based on contributions earned after rejoining, or being re-employed by, the Local Union. Contributions earned prior to your termination will not be counted toward your eligibility upon rejoining.

You may apply for an award on behalf of any student who is one of the following persons:

• Yourself
• Your spouse
• Your unmarried child or children who are dependent upon you for support, and who are not yet age 25 at the time the educational course commences.
• Your unmarried grandchildren under age 25.

Note: Such award payments are payable to the student and are considered taxable income to the student.

The Institutions are exclusively post-secondary schools, who offer educational courses for which a Degree or Certificate is conferred upon completion of the entire course. These institutions include Universities, Community Colleges, and other broadly recognized Educational Institutions that offer eligible educational courses whether by attendance at the Institution or by correspondence.

In every case, these educational institutions must require the student to successfully pass a written and/or oral examination, such that the Institution issues a passing grade for the course, and eventually a Degree or Certificate.

As previously noted, the course must be beneficial to the student as it respects his or her working career. Without limiting the generality of that statement, such courses would include Arts, Engineering, Teaching, Nursing, Medicine, Dentistry, other Heath Practitioners, Law and Sciences. Also eligible are courses in such Trades as Auto Mechanics, Plumbing and Pipefitting, Carpentry, and Sheet Metal, provided that such courses lead to a certificate of qualification issued by the Ontario Training and Adjustment Board, Apprenticeship Branch. The Branch is a Crown Corporation of the Government of Ontario.

In addition to tuition, eligible expenses include activity fees, laboratory fees, textbooks, supplies, and other materials that the student must purchase in order to take the course and for which receipts are provided when claiming the award payments.

It would be important to note that the eligible expenses do not include the cost of travel, accommodation, and sustenance.

A maximum of 4 years can be granted to an individual. The amount of each payment per award will be equal to 75% of the eligible expenses, to a maximum of $2,000 per year for up to four years. For each member sponsoring a scholarship applicant, there is a maximum of one payment per school year (Sept 1-Aug 31) per student, and a maximum of four (as of Jan 2016) awards granted per school year on behalf of any member in good standing.

The Trustees may adjust the maximum award in light of the Fund’s prevailing financial circumstances.

Example – An eligible student successfully completing each year of a 4-year program would be entitled to a total of up to $8000 (up to $2000 per successful school year x 4 years).

Notice of Application

The Notice of Application forms are available from the Plan Administrator, the Office of LIUNA Local 493, and the Plan website: http://www.local493.com/scholarship.

The Application requests information as it respects the Member, the Student, and the Course, and must be signed by the Member, the Student, and an Officer of LIUNA Local 493.

Example – If the course starts September 6, 2022, the Notice of Application must be filed with LIUNA Local 493 by December 6, 2022 Your completed Notice of Application will be given to the Plan Administrator by LIUNA Local 493, and the Plan Administrator will provide written confirmation to you as to whether all eligibility requirements have been met. If the Notice of Application is ineligible, it will usually be due to one of the following reasons: the Notice of Application was not filed on time; the course is ineligible, or you have insufficient contributions.

Claiming an Award

If you have received confirmation from the Plan Administrator that your Notice of Application has been accepted, this means that an award payment will be granted provided that the student successfully completes the school year. If the student doesn’t complete the school year for reasons of disability, such disability must be certified by a medical doctor as having been so severe and prolonged that it prevented the student from completing the course. The Trustees of the Scholarship Trust Fund will review and determine if the payment of the award will be granted.

Upon successful completion of the school year, you will be required to submit a Claim for an Award payment with the following attached as evidence of the Eligible Expenses that were incurred:

• A receipt from the Educational Institution, confirming the amount of tuition that has been paid.
• A clear statement from that Educational Institution with respect to the nature of the course.
• Receipts from the Education Institution or other suppliers, clearly indicating thereon the textbooks, course materials, etc. that were purchased by the student. These expenses must all be related to the course for which an award is being claimed.
• A clear statement from the Educational Institution that the Student has received a passing grade in the current year of the course for which an award payment is being claimed.

Please remember that in order to receive reimbursement from the Scholarship Fund, your receipts must clearly confirm your expenses.

Claims must be filed each year within 90 days of completion.

Please note that the award payment will be made payable to the student and a T4A Supplementary will be issued to the student for inclusion in his/her Personal Income Tax Return.