Protecting your personal information is important to us
What is personal information?
Personal information is defined as information in any form or manner about an individual, whether or not recorded, that directly identifies the individual.
How does OMERS protect my personal information?
OMERS has a comprehensive Privacy Policy 
[50 KB] that sets out specific rights and obligations including, among others:
- notifying individuals of the purposes for which their personal information is being collected and used
- describing the circumstances or purposes under which it will be disclosed to third parties and the conditions when that may occur, such as for third party pension payroll processing
- obtaining consent of the individual for such collection
- identifying uses and potential disclosure, and
- ensuring that the information is not used or disclosed for other purposes without further consent.
Why does OMERS collect and use personal information?
OMERS uses your personal information to determine your pension benefit and administer your pension plan. We need this information to make accurate calculations of your pension entitlements. We also need your personal contact information to be as up-to-date as possible so that we can contact you and also ensure that your survivor information is current so that we can keep you informed about your pension and any changes that may affect you. This is why it is crucial that we maintain up-to-date information on our members and pensioners, including mailing addresses. We work with your employer on some of these matters.
Why even have privacy policies?
Our members rely on us to protect their valuable personal information. Inappropriate disclosure of your personal information is a serious business risk and we take proactive steps to minimize the possibility this could occur. OMERS reputation is one of assets and privacy protection is an important part of our reputation. Creating, transmitting and complying with an organization-wide informational privacy policy is essential to ensuring that legislation, regulations and business expectations are met.
What has OMERS done to ensure that your personal information is protected?
As part of the ongoing privacy program the OMERS has done the following:
- designated a Privacy Officer as the contact person at OMERS to deal with privacy issues
- enacted a Privacy Policy along with comprehensive procedures and processes
- provided communications to members, pensioners and employers about our privacy program
- adopted procedures to respond to complaints or queries about privacy from members and pensioners
- continued to provide comprehensive training to staff about privacy
- developed processes to deal with any potential privacy breaches.
Your personal information is protected.
OMERS has conducts regular reviews to determine any steps we should take to enhance our privacy program. OMERS staff have always taken great care and sensitivity when dealing with member/pensioner personal information. We recognize that our staff are the key to protecting your personal information.
We will keep you informed.
If you have any concerns or questions regarding OMERS privacy policies and procedures, please contact our Privacy Officer at (416) 814-6569 or toll-free within Canada 1-800-387-0813 or by e-mail at privacy@omers.com.
If you have questions about the information on OMERS website, please contact:
Webmaster
OMERS
One University Avenue
Suite 400
Toronto ON
M5J 2P1