OMERS: Employers: Employer Checklist

Use this checklist as you get ready for your 2011 e-Form 119 annual reporting and as a quick guide throughout the year. It includes important dates, tips and guidelines.

Online Tools at www.omers.com

This checklist is meant to be a quick reference tool – for detailed information, please refer to the OMERS Employer Administration Manual. The manual is updated every quarter and sometimes more frequently. Please check under “What’s new” for important updates.

Please also take advantage of our other online tools:

NEW! e-access requires less down-time for updating and information reconciliation. Now, you will find it to be more accessible after hours and on weekends.

The Basics for 2012

New Contribution Rates Effective January 1, 2012

Contribution rates change in 2012, starting with the first, full pay period in 2012. The 2012 rates are as follows:

	Up to YMPE	Over YMPE
Normal retirement age 65	8.3%	12.8%
Normal retirement age 60	9.4%	13.9%
YMPE for 2012 = $50,100

Contributions are calculated on earnings up to and above the YMPE (the year’s maximum pensionable earnings limit for CPP contributions).

Maximum Registered Pension Plan (RPP) Earnings (for Contributions) for 2012 = $149,242.25

In 2012, contributions on earnings above this amount are paid to the OMERS Primary Pension Plan Retirement Compensation Arrangement (RCA).

5-year Average YMPE (2008-2012) = $47,360

This is used in calculating the OMERS bridge benefit, which is paid up to age 65, in addition to the lifetime pension for retired members.

2011 e-Form 119 Annual Reporting

Important dates:

January 3, 2012 – e-Form 119 becomes available

The e-Form 119 reporting function is available for submitting 2011 membership information.

February 17, 2012 – deadline for OMERS to calculate PAs

You can submit member data before this date without PAs; we will calculate them for you.
Once the data is validated, you can extract the PAs and upload them to your system for completing T4 slips.
After February 17, you must calculate and include PAs with your data.

March 1, 2012 – deadline to save on interest charges

Reconcile your e-Form 119 data by this date and OMERS will not charge interest on any outstanding contribution balance owed. After this date, interest will be charged.

June 18, 2012 – deadline to submit membership data

This is the last date for OMERS to receive 2011 membership data to ensure we are able to produce and deliver Pension Reports to members within the legislated deadline.

Tip: Report all member events (enrolments, leaves, terminations, retirements, deaths, etc.) to OMERS when they happen – throughout the year. This will make your annual e-Form 119 reporting easier and quicker.

What Must Be Completed Before Starting Your e-Form 119 Annual Reporting

Enrolments
Member information changes
Benefit claims
Disability elimination period reporting and elections
Leave period reporting and elections

1. Enrolments

e-Form 102 – Enrolling an OMERS member

Complete the enrolment process for all full-time and part-time employees whose participation in OMERS is mandatory. Enrolling members promptly will help to avoid omission periods.

You can submit an e-Form 102 without the member’s beneficiary designation. If a beneficiary is not designated by the member, the beneficiary designation defaults to the member’s estate. To update the beneficiary, submit an e-Form 106 – Changing member information or the member can submit a Form 206 – Beneficiary information [82 KB] on their own.

Note: e-Form 102 – Enrolling an OMERS member has had minor additions. If there is a difference between a member’s hire date and enrolment date, OMERS will request the member’s annual salary, percentage worked during that period, and home address. Please ensure that the information you provide is accurate, as OMERS will use it to provide a buy-back cost to the member.

School Boards

An employee eligible to contribute to the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan cannot enrol in OMERS. All employees of school boards who hold teaching qualifications (e.g., teaching certificate, letter of permission) must join the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, even if the employee is in a non-teaching position.

Form 104 – Offer of OMERS membership – part-time employee

As part of your annual processes, be sure to offer membership to employees who are eligible for OMERS membership and whose participation is not mandatory. (See OMERS Employer Administration Manual for details of who is eligible under the Pension Benefits Act.)

To offer membership, use Form 104 [83 KB] and the Offer of OMERS Membership (part-time employees) [5.27 MB] booklet.
Be sure the employee returns the completed and signed Form 104.
If the employee elects to join OMERS, complete the enrolment using e-Form 102. (If the employee completed and signed the beneficiary section on Form 104, please forward it to us as well.)
The enrolment date is the later of the first date the employee becomes eligible, or the date the eligible employee elects to join OMERS.
If the employee elects not to participate in OMERS, keep the completed and signed Form 104 for your records. (Form 104 should be kept permanently in your records.)

2. Member Information Changes

e-Form 106 – Changing member information

Report changes in employment status (e.g., full-time to part-time).
Report changes in member affiliation (i.e., union/ association). Use e-access/batch import to update this information for a group of employees.
Report changes in beneficiary information.

3. Benefit Claims

e-Form 143 – Request for an OMERS plan benefit

Use the following guidelines when reporting member events on the e-Form 143.

Terminations

Submit e-Form 143 when the member’s payroll information is final, or after the member’s final payroll run.

Retirements

Submit e-Form 143 when the information is final. For salaried employees where the final figures are known, this can be up to 60 days in advance.
Even if you don’t have the final payroll figures until just before or after the member’s retirement date and as long as there are no other issues with the file, we can process e-Form 143 and have the first pension payment in the member’s account within seven business days – often earlier. For example, if a member retires on August 31 and you submit e-Form 143 on September 3, the member’s first pension payment will be deposited by September 14 or earlier.

Pre-retirement Deaths

Only submit e-Form 143 when you have final death information – i.e., after the member’s final payroll run.

Disability Leaves

Only submit e-Form 143 when you have final payroll information, after the member has decided whether or not to purchase the elimination period(s).

Termination Dates

Employers may extend a member’s termination date, for example, to use up vacation days. However, if the member starts to work for another OMERS employer before the termination date at their previous employer, they will not be able to combine their OMERS memberships. Make sure members are aware of this when discussing a termination date.

Member Addresses

Be sure to provide up-to-date address information on the e-Form 143. We send the Benefit application form and any other communications to this address.

4. Disability Elimination Period Reporting and Elections

e-Form 164 – Disability elimination period

Use this form to offer members the option to purchase disability elimination periods.
The member may purchase all or part of the period at single contributions; the employer pays a matching amount.
Submit e-Form 164 to OMERS only if the member elects not to purchase the period; keep a copy for your records.
For 2011 elimination periods that were purchased, remit elimination period contributions with e-Form 105 – Contribution remittance summary and include them in the 2011 e-Form 119 reporting.
e-Form 143 must take into consideration the member’s disability elimination period election.

5. Leave Period Reporting and Elections

e-Form 165 – Leave period reporting/election

Report any leave periods that occurred in 2011 before completing the 2011 e-Form 119.
If you checked “undecided” on e-Form 165a and have since received the member’s contributions, submit e-Form 165b with the election details before remitting the monies.

Employer Reports

In January, we will mail you the following reports:

Members who will reach 35 years (420 months) of credited service. Contributions to OMERS for these members must stop and the PA and credited service will be zero for the period after 35 years, but contributory earnings must continue to be reported.
Members who started or ended a disability benefit in 2011, or who applied for a disability benefit that has yet to be approved.
Members who will reach age 69 or age 71. Effective March 1, 2009, contributions to OMERS must stop by November 30 of the year in which a member reaches age 71. Submit an e-Form 143 for the retirement of the member, and OMERS will begin paying the member’s pension even if the member continues to work.

Reminder: On February 19, 2009, OMERS extended active membership from age 69 to age 71 with a five-year transition period.

The transition period rules apply to members who reach age 69 on or after March 1, 2009, but before March 1, 2014. An active OMERS member who reaches age 69 on or before February 28, 2014, may elect, despite ongoing employment, to start his/her OMERS pension on the first of any month up to the earlier of:

December 1 of the year he/she reaches age 71, and
March 1, 2014.

Security Reminder: Never Put a SIN in an Email

It’s crucial that both OMERS and employers take measures to safeguard members’ personal information. One way to do this is to have a policy of never putting a member’s social insurance number (SIN) or any personal, financial, or sensitive information in an email text or an email attachment.

Always use e-Correspondence in e-access instead; it’s safe, secure, and monitored by our staff.

Associated Employers

Each associated employer must certify that they continue to be eligible to participate in OMERS.

Associated employers must also certify that members reported on e-Form 119 are eligible to participate in OMERS; i.e., that they are eligible employees under the OMERS Act, 2006 and fall within the class(es) of covered employees designated to participate.

Employers

Employer Checklist 2012