Act to amend the Act respecting the Pension Plan of Management Personnel and other legislative provisions (S.Q. 2012, c. 6)

Changes to Your Pension Plan

The Act to amend the Act respecting the Pension Plan of Management Personnel and other legislative provisions This link will open in a new window. (S.Q. 2012, c. 6) was assented to on May 3, 2012. The legislation is aimed at amending certain pension plans, particularly the Pension Plan of Management Personnel (PPMP). It can be consulted on the website of Les Publications du Québec.

The principal amendments made to certain plans are as follows:

 

Additional membership period


Pension plan involved: PPMP

Coming into force: January 1, 2013

If you begin your membership in the PPMP after December 31, 2012, you must be a member of the plan for an additional 5-year period after the 2-year qualification period, in order to be entitled to all the benefits provided by the PPMP, for a total period of 7 years.

If, in order to retire, you cease to be member of the PPMP before the end of the additional 5-year membership period, whereas you have qualified for the plan, the applicable eligibility requirements for an immediate pension with no reduction are equivalent to those that apply according to your salary for the 5 best-paid years of service instead of the 3 best-paid years of service. In addition, those eligibility requirements for an immediate pension are equivalent to those that apply under RREGOP:

  • Immediate pension with no reduction: 35 years of service for admissibility (no minimum age) or 60 years old;
  • Immediate pension with reduction: 55 years old without having reached the 35 years of service for eligibility.

Note that, if you are qualified for the plan at December 31, 2012 or are in the process of qualifying at that date, you are not affected by this legislative amendment.

Elements to consider

  • If you have absences without pay for more than 30 consecutive days during your additional membership period, that period is extended by a period equivalent to the number of days of absence.
  • If you are a non-active member who has qualified for the PPMP, i.e. a member who retains credits in a pension plan despite having ceased to accumulate them, and if you have not completed your additional membership period and return to hold employment covered by the PPMP, the additional period continues.
  • If you are a PPMP pensioner and you had not completed the additional 5-year period at the time you retired, should you return to work and be a member of the PPMP, your new participation will not enable you to complete the additional 5-year membership period.
  • If you die or apply for a benefit for a terminal-stage illness before completing the additional membership period, you are considered to have completed that period provided you meet the eligibility requirements for qualification until the day of your death or, in the second case, until the date of receipt of your benefit application.

 

Eligibility requirements for a pension


Pension plan involved: PPMP

Coming into force: January 1, 2013

The eligibility requirements for an immediate pension with no reduction, i.e. Factor 88 (age + years of service for eligibility purposes) will change to Factor 90 while retaining the minimum age of 55.

In addition, the eligibility requirement for a pension at 35 years of service with no minimum age is eliminated.

The reduction owing to receiving a pension early in the case of an immediate pension with reduction is increased from 3% to 4% a year.

RPSO

If you are a member of the RPSO of the education, and health and social services networks and you receive your pension early, the portion of your immediate pension with reduction, resulting from the years of service credited under the PPMP, is calculated according to the new eligibility requirements for a PPMP pension.

 

Compassionate care leave


Pension plans involved: RREGOP, PPMP, PPCTRPSO

Coming into force: January 1, 2012

The Act respecting labour standards provides that fringe benefits must be maintained for employees who are absent without pay for family or parental reasons (compassionate care leave).

If you do not apply to your employer to maintain your contributions during compassionate care leave under way on January 1, 2012 or beginning after that date, you can buy back the service related to that absence.

If CARRA receives your buy-back application within six months following the end of the period of absence, the buy-back cost is equal to 100% of the contributions you would have made if you had not been absent.

If CARRA receives your buy-back application more than six months following the end of the period of absence, the buy-back cost varies according to the period to be bought back, your pensionable salary and your age on the date of receipt of the buy-back application.

 

Maximum age of membership in the plan


Pension plans involved: PPMPRPSO

Coming into force: January 1, 2013

As of January 1, 2013, you will continue to participate in the plan until December 30 of the year you reach the age of 71.

 

Return to work by a pensioner


Pension plan involved: PPMP

Coming into force: January 1, 2013

If you are a pensioner who returns to work as of January 1, 2013, and you elect not to be a member of the plan, your pension will be suspended in proportion to the time worked.

If you are a pensioner who returns to work and choose to be a member of the plan, your pension will be suspended during the whole working period.

 

Departure agreement according to the working conditions


Pension plan involved: PPMP

Coming into force: January 1, 2013

If you signed a phased departure agreement with your employer on the date the bill regarding the transition between work and retirement based on the working conditions, of which a phased departure agreement, was tabled in the National Assembly (February 22, 2012) the provisions of the Act governing the PPMP as they read before December 31, 2012 will apply when you retire, i.e. the eligibility requirements for an immediate pension and the percentage of reduction applicable to the pension, should you retire early.

The Act to amend the Act respecting the Pension Plan of Management Personnel and other legislative provisions (S.Q. 2012, c. 6) also maintains these provisions if you signed such an agreement in the 90 days following the date the bill was tabled in the National Assembly (February 22, 2012 to May 21, 2012 inclusively). In that case, the agreement must begin to apply no later than September 1, 2012 and you must retire within two years following the date that the agreement began to apply, i.e. no later than September 1, 2014.

For further information on the implementation of the modifications, consult the Web page: Questions on Transitional Dispositions – Phased Departure

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