Defined terms

Basic pension - is the gross pension payable at age 65. See Calculating your pension at age 65.

CPP integration - is a reduction to your pension at age 65 to reflect the lower contribution 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 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
  
1. for at least three years

OR

2. in a relationship of some permanence and are the natural or adoptive parents of a child.

If you die before 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 of your death.

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, the child 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 unreduced 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 that reflects the increase in the cost of the living in Canada as measured by the Consumer Price Index.

Pensionable service credit (credit) - is the total period of time during which a member contributes to the pension fund or has contributions made on his/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/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.