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When can you retire?

AGE 65

The normal retirement age under the OPSEU Pension Plan is 65. If you have two or more years of continuous membership or credit in the Plan, you are entitled to a pension based on your credit.

EARLY RETIREMENT WITH AN UNREDUCED PENSION: FACTOR 90 AND 60/20

You may be eligible for an early unreduced immediate pension if you attain:

• Factor 90 – your age plus your credit (in years, months and days) total at least 90 years
• 60/20 – you are at least 60 years old and have 20 or more years of credit.

If you qualify for one of the early retirement provisions, your pension will be calculated based on your credit in the Plan and your termination date using the basic pension formula without CPP integration. You may decide to collect your CPP pension before age 65. OPTrust does not integrate your pension with CPP until age 65.

SURPLUS FACTOR 80 - TEMPORARY PROVISION

Surplus Factor 80 is a temporary early retirement option available to eligible pension plan members who are permanently laid off.

The provision allows affected members to qualify for an unreduced OPTrust pension if their age plus credit in the Plan total 80 or more years by the time their employment ends.

Who qualifies?

If you work in the Ontario Public Service (OPS), you may qualify for the temporary Surplus Factor 80 provision if you meet all of the following conditions:

• you are a member of the Plan and are covered by the Central Collective Agreement
• you are laid off before January 1, 2013
• your age plus credit in the Plan equal 80 years or more before January 1, 2013 and on the date your employment ends, and
• your employer provides OPTrust with confirmation that the layoff is consistent with the OPS collective agreement. Appendix 17 of the collective agreement says, in part, that a laid-off member is eligible for Surplus Factor 80 only if the available options for reassignment, redeployment or displacement to a permanent vacancy have been exhausted.
  

Surplus Factor 80 in non-OPS bargaining units

For members of other bargaining units, employers and OPSEU may negotiate an agreement to provide access to the Surplus Factor 80 option or other similar provisions. In these cases, the parties must notify OPTrust of the terms of any such agreement.

Please contact your human resources representative or OPTrust for more information if one of these options could appy to you.

BRIDGING TO AN UNREDUCED PENSION

OPTrust members who receive a notice of layoff may be able to “bridge” to an unreduced pension.

Bridging requires special provisions in your collective agreement allowing the use of leaves of absence, the surplus notice period and the period represented by severance payments to reach the date on which you become eligible for one of the Plan’s unreduced retirement options. Bridging is currently available to:

• members whose positions are declared surplus and are covered by the Central Collective Agreement between OPSEU and Management Board of Cabinet
• members whose positions are declared surplus as a result of privatization, and are covered by the collective agreement between the Liquor Board Employees’ Division of OPSEU and the LCBO
• anyone in a divestment situation who
  • is covered by the Central Collective Agreement between Management Board of Cabinet and OPSEU

and

• declines a job offer that is less than 85% of his or her current salary or where the member’s service or seniority is not carried over to the new employer

or

• is declared surplus and the collective agreement provides for bridging

or

• the new employer’s collective agreement provides for bridging.

For more information on bridging, see OPTrust’s fact sheet Bridging to an unreduced pension or contact your employer, union representative or OPTrust.

REDUCED PENSION

You are eligible for early retirement with a reduced pension if you have at least two years of credit or continuous membership in the Plan and are at least 55 years old when you end your membership in the Plan. With this type of early retirement, your pension is calculated using the pension formula (and does not include the reduction for CPP integration until age 65). It is then reduced by 5% for each year you are under age 65, if you do not qualify for other forms of early retirement.

DISABILITY PENSION

To qualify for a disability pension you must be totally and permanently physically and/or mentally disabled. In order to receive the disability pension you must apply to OPTrust, satisfy the above criteria and if your application is approved, you must resign from your employment. The medical evidence must be satisfactory to OPTrust. The amount of your disability pension will depend on your total credit in the Plan and your best five-year average salary:

• If you have less than 10 years of credit and membership you do not qualify for a disability pension. You may receive a special disability refund under the Plan, plus interest. If you are eligible for a refund you are still entitled to a regular pension at age 65 based on your credit and salary. Taking a reduced pension at age 55 is also an option.
• If you have more than 10 years of credit or continuous membership your disability pension is calculated using the basic pension formula. Adjustments for inflation will be taken into consideration to calculate your salary for the period during which you were receiving or eligible to receive LTIP. Your pension benefit is based on your credit in the Plan up to the date of your resignation.

As with all pensions, this would be integrated with CPP at age 65, regardless of whether or not you are receiving a CPP disablility pension.

REFUND OF EXCESS PENSION CONTRIBUTIONS

When OPTrust determines the commuted value of your pension at termination or retirement, we compare the total of your contributions plus interest to one half the value of your benefit accrued after 1986. This ensures that you do not contribute more than 50% of the commuted value for this period.

For example: let’s assume you terminated and we determine the value of your pension benefit to be $180,000. You have made contributions of $60,000 including interest. Fifty percent of the $180,000 is $90,000. In this case you do not have an “excess” owing to you because one half the value of your benefit is greater than your contributions plus interest.

 

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