Defined Terms
Accrued pension/benefit — the amount of annual pension earned by a plan member based on credit and salary rate up to a given date.
CPP Integration — is the reduction to your pension at age 65 to reflect the lower contributions you pay to the OPSEU Pension Plan for the portion of your earnings between the Year's Basic Exemption (YBE) and the Year's Maximum Pensionable Earnings (YMPE).
Deferred pension — a specified pension amount determined at the time of termination of membership which is payable at normal retirement age.
Defined benefit plan — a plan that defines the pension to be provided (based on credit and average salary) but not the total contributions.
Eligible spouse — a spouse is defined as someone of the same or opposite sex, with whom you:
- are married
OR
- are living together in a conjugal, common-law relationship
- for at least three years
OR
- in a relationship of some permanence and are the natural or adoptive parents of a child.
If you die after your pension begins, to be eligible, your spouse must not be living separate and apart from you at the time of termination from the plan and at the time your pension began.
Eligible child — Under the OPSEU Pension Plan, a child is eligible to receive survivor benefits if: the child is under the age of 18, or if over 18, is in continuous full-time attendance at a secondary school or, immediately following secondary school is attending a post-secondary institution to a maximum of five years.
Immediate pension — a pension payable at the end of the month following the month of termination from the Plan. An immediate pension may be payable to a member who qualifies for Factor 90, 60/20 or age 65. An immediate reduced pension is payable as early as age 55.
Inflation protection —is the annual adjustment applied every January to all pensions which reflects the increase in the cost of living in Canada as measured by the Consumer Price Index.
Lifetime pension — is the pension paid to you without the OPTrust bridge benefit.
Pensionable service credit —is the total period of time during which a member contributes to the pension fund or has contributions made on his or her behalf.
Plan sponsors — the Government of Ontario and OPSEU. Each appoints five trustees to the OPTrust Board that oversees the OPSEU Pension Trust.
Re-employed or engaged — a re-employed pensioner is someone who is working for (becomes an employee of) an employer who contributes to the OPSEU Pension Plan. The pensioner is considered engaged if he or she has a fee-for-service contract with an employer who contributes to the Plan.
Residual balance — when a pensioner dies and all eligible survivors have been paid, a calculation is done to determine if there is any money owing. This calculation compares the pension payments made plus all the survivor benefits paid to the total amount the member contributed, plus interest, to the Plan.
Year's Basic Exemption (YBE) — is the earnings amount set every calendar year by CPP on which Canadians do not make any CPP contributions.
Year's Maximum Pensionable Earnings (YMPE) — the maximum earnings from employment on which CPP contributions and benefits are calculated. The YMPE is changed every year according to a formula based on average wage levels.