About your pension plan
Your OMERS pension
What exactly is OMERS?
Do I have to join OMERS?
How is OMERS regulated?
What is credited service?
What is eligible service?
What does "normal retirement age mean?
When can I retire?
Can I retire before my normal retirement age?
How much do I have to contribute to OMERS?
What does it mean when we say OMERS benfits "vest" immediately?
How is OMERS integrated with CPP?
What is the OMERS bridge benefit?
What is buying back service?
I'm a part-time employee. Can I join OMERS?
Your OMERS pension
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provides a guaranteed stream of retirement income for life based on your earnings and service
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offers guaranteed protection against inflation
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includes excellent survivor benefits
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provides disability benefits
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offers early retirement options
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is portable to many public sector plans
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is a defined benefit (DB) pension plan that pays a monthly pension based on a formula that takes into account the number of years you pay into the plan and your salary
What exactly is OMERS?
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OMERS (Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System) was established in 1962 as the pension plan for employees of municipal governments, school boards, libraries, police and fire departments, Children's Aid Societies and other local agencies throughout Ontario.
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The OMERS Fund is financed by member contributions, matching employer contributions, and investment earnings.
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By pooling resources and focusing on long-term results, OMERS has grown into one of the largest, most competitive and cost-effective pension plans in Canada.
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OMERS has a proven investment record. The OMERS team includes some of the best investment professionals in the industry.
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Do I have to join OMERS?
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If you are a permanent, full-time employee with a participating OMERS employer, membership in OMERS is generally mandatory.
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In OMERS terms, you are known as a “continuous full-time” employee.
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You join the plan either on your date of hire or on the date you become a continuous full-time employee.
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How is OMERS regulated?
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What is credited service?
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Credited service is the service with your employer that OMERS uses to calculate your pension.
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OMERS measures credited service in years and months (to two decimal places).
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Credited service does not include any service you have not purchased or service for which your contributions were refunded.
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What is eligible service?
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Eligible service is used in the calculation of the early retirement factor.
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Eligible service includes part-time or seasonal service with an OMERS employer while you were not an OMERS member, or service you had refunded when you terminated employment.
What does “normal retirement age” mean?
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When can I retire?
Normally, you may retire as early as age 50 (for normal retirement age 60) or age 55 (for normal retirement age 65).
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There are two types of early retirement pension: an unreduced pension (no penalty) and a reduced pension (with a penalty).
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Under standard plan provisions, you will receive an unreduced pension if you:
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have reached your normal retirement age.
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have reached your early retirement factor (age and service)
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You may retire with a reduced pension if you do not have enough qualifying service.
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The average retirement of an OMERS member is 58.
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Can I retire before my normal retirement age?
How much do I have to contribute to OMERS?
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Your contributions are based on a formula, depending on your normal retirement age.
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You and your employer contribute equally to your basic OMERS pension, paying the same percentage of your contributory earnings.
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Contributory earnings do not include overtime pay and most lump sum payments, so they may not be the same as your actual income for income tax purposes.
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Each year you will receive a personalized Pension Report with up-to-date information on you contributions, earnings and service in the OMERS plan.
What does it mean when we say OMERS benefits “vest” immediately?
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The day you join OMERS, you’re entitled to a benefit from the plan. This entitlement is known as vesting.
How is OMERS integrated with CPP?
- OMERS and CPP are two completely different pension plans. However, contributions to each plan and benefits received from each plan are integrated.
- You pay recuded contributions on earnings for which you also contribute to CPP.
- Discuss these benefits with your employer or your local Social Development Canada
office.
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What is the OMERS bridge benefit?
- The bridge benefit is approximately the amount of pension you will receive from CPP.
- If you retire before age 65, you receive the OMERS bridge benefit as part of your total pension benefit. The bridge benefit essentially "tops up" your early retirement pension until age 65.
- You are eligible for a reduced retirement pension from CPP at age 60. Taking a reduced CPP pension does not affect payment of your OMERS pension or bridge benefit in any way.
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What is buying back service?
- IF you have employment time that doesn't count towards your OMERS pension (such as a leave of absense, work with another public sector employer, or war service), you may be able to buy it back to increase your credited service in OMERS. This would give you a higher pension when you retire and it may halp you retire earlier.
- There are four possible ways to pay for a buy-back:
- cash (including any retiring allowance you might receive);
- transfer from your Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP);
- transfer from another registered pension plan (RPP); or
- a combination of the above three options.
Info on buying back service
To get an idea of what it would cost to buy back service, try the Buy-back Estimator.
I'm a part-time employee. Can I join OMERS?
- Part-time employees may include short-term, casual, temporary, seasonal, student, part-time, 10-month or contract employees. (Part-time may also be referred to as other-than-continuous full-time or OTCFT)
- If you are a part-time or seasonal employee with an OMERS employer, you may be required to join OMERS as a condition of employment.
- If you are not required to join OMERS, you may choose to join under certain conditions.
- As a part-time employee, your employer must offer you membership in the OMERS plan if in each of two immediately preceding calendar years:
- you worked at least 700 hours, or
- you earned at least 35% of the Year's Maximum Pensionable Earnings (YMPE)
- Once you join the OMERS plan, you cannot opt out, whether you are full-time or part-time. You can only end your OMERS membership if you leave your employer and transfer your benefit out of the plan.