Your Contributions

You contribute a percentage of your contributory earnings in each pay period to help pay for your future pension. Your employer also contributes an equal amount. These contributions will fund a portion of your pension. Investment earnings of the OMERS Fund will fund the balance.

*The CPP earnings limit is also called the Year’s Maximum Pensionable Earnings (YMPE). The YMPE in 2023 is $66,600.

To calculate contributions, the YMPE must be divided by the number of pay periods in the year. This depends on your employer’s payroll cycles(s). See the examples below.

Contribution Calculation Per Pay Period

As noted above, you will make contributions in each pay period based on your contributory earnings in each pay period and the YMPE (i.e., the CPP earnings limit) per pay period.

If your contributory earnings vary from pay period to pay period, your contributions will vary as well. Note that your contributions are determined based on your gross contributory earnings (i.e., before statutory and other deductions).

The YMPE per pay period is calculated as follows:

YMPE Per Pay Period = YMPE ÷ Number of Pay Periods Per Year

Employers use different payroll cycles over a year (e.g., monthly, bimonthly or biweekly), Many OMERS employers use payroll cycles that cover the entire calendar year whereas others have multiple cycles used for different employee groups, including cycles that run over the 10-month school year. Your contributions will be determined depending on what payroll cycle you are paid on.

See below for an example of what the YMPE per pay period calculation looks like where the pay period is bi-weekly for those on a calendar year cycle versus a school year cycle:

Note: If you only work for a part of a year, the YMPE per pay period calculation will not change (i.e., if you would normally be paid over 26 bi-weekly pay periods over a calendar year, the YMPE per pay period would be determined using 26 pay periods even if you only receive contributory earnings during a portion of those pay periods).

Case Study – Contributions Per Pay Period

Francis and Juba are non-full-time (NFT) members who work for a school board and each are expected to earn $70,000 over 2023.

Francis works over a calendar year on a part-time schedule and is paid bi-weekly over 26 pay periods. In each pay period, Francis’ gross contributory earnings are $2,692.31.

Juba works a full-time schedule for 10 months each year from September to June and is paid bi-weekly over 22 pay periods. In each pay period, Juba’s gross contributory earnings are $3,181.82.