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When employees enrol in the OPSEU Pension Plan, they may be eligible to
purchase, or “buy back,” credit for eligible periods of past service. Buying
back credit increases the amount of the member’s pension at retirement and may
allow him or her to qualify for early retirement, or to qualify sooner.
Under the Plan, there are several types of prior service that eligible members
can buy back at enrolment. These include:
- Service in the Ontario Public Service or with another employer who
contributed to the OPSEU Pension Plan, the Public Service Pension Plan, or its
predecessor. This includes both:
- non-contributory service, and
- contributory service that was previously refunded or transferred out of the
Plan.
- Service with another Canadian Registered Pension Plan.
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 Important! To buy back credit for eligible periods of past service, enrolling
members must submit an Application for Past Service Credit (OPTrust
1036) to OPTrust within strict time limits.
Employers should make new members aware of the Plan’s buyback rules and that
strict time limits apply. OPTrust will provide new members with additional
information on buybacks in their Welcome Package.
For more information please refer to the section of this manual on
Buybacks and the OPTrust booklet,
Your Pension and Buying
Back Credit.
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As part of the enrolment process, OPTrust automatically checks whether the
member is eligible to buy back a period of a non-contributory government
service. We do this by comparing the member’s plan membership date with the date
his or her current continuous employment began. If there is a gap between the
continuous employment date and the plan membership date, we will automatically
send the member a quote for the cost of buying back credit for this period.
In effect, the Plan deems the member to have applied to purchase the prior
non-contributory service. This procedure ensures that most members will not miss
the application window.
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 Reminder! The employer must provide accurate plan membership and continuous
employment dates when completing the Membership Enrolment form. OPTrust
requires this information to provide automatic cost quotes at enrolment for
non-contributory buy backs. Please see Employment and
Membership Dates for more information.
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In cases where OPTrust does not have access to the member’s prior service
information, the member must still submit a buyback application within the
Plan’s 24-month application deadline. This includes members who
- may be eligible to purchase
- prior non-contributory service where there has been a break in employment
- prior contributory service that has been refunded to the member
- past service with an employer who contributed to another registered pension
plan.
- work for non-OPS employers.
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Important! To ensure that no member misses his or her buyback application
deadline, OPTrust still recommends that all members complete and submit a signed
Application for Past Service Credit form, whether their prior service is
captured by the automatic buyback quotes process or not.
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Revised October 12, 2004
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