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 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, PPCT, RPSO
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: PPMP, RPSO
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