July 18, 2008
To:
Members of the Non Academic Pension Plan
From:
Non Academic Fringe Benefits Committee (NAFBC)
Amendments to the Non Academic Pension Plan
Amendment P-62
This amendment was prepared as a result of the recent Collective Bargaining
agreement between CUPE and the University of Saskatchewan. Two changes to the
Plan were done in this amendment and they are as follows:
•
The Return to Work Agreement between the University of Saskatchewan and
CUPE Local 1975 stipulated that employees would accrue pensionable service
during the period of job action with no contributions (employee/employer) being
made for that period of time.
The Non Academic Pension Plan document does permit accrual of service
without contributions for members on disability or maternity/paternity leave, but
does not include accrual of service during “strike” or “job action” situations.
Therefore to accommodate this agreement, an amendment was required to the
Plan that would permit the accrual of service only for this period of time
(November 2, 2007 to December 2, 2007).
•
The Collective Agreement also provided that the Plan be amended to provide for
an increase in employee contributions to 6.0% at May 1, 2008 and 6.5% at May
1, 2009. This will be matched by the University.
Amendment P-63
Effective November 17, 2007 the Saskatchewan Human Rights Code Amendment Act
2006, (Bill 9) put an end to mandatory retirement by changing the definition of age in the
Code to include persons over 65 years, effectively removing the protection for
mandatory retirement policies.
The current terms of the Non Academic Pension Plan permit contributions to the Plan
after normal retirement (age 65), but only with the consent of the University. The
University amended the pension plan such that employees who continue in employment
after their normal retirement date, can continue to contribute to the Plan until the latest
date permitted by the Income Tax Act (currently age 71).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------This communication, future communications and other pension plan information are available online at:
www.usask.ca/fsd/pensions
In addition, there were a number of housekeeping amendments that were done to clarify
the credited interest rate, clarify the small benefit test, providing an option to transfer to
an RRSP for the spouse (on the death of a member), allowing small benefit test to be
applied to payouts on marital breakdown and removal of the duties of NAFBC (now in
the Governance Document).
Summary
1) You will accrue pensionable service for the period of job action (November 2,
2007 to December 2, 2007) without payment of contributions.
2) Your contributions to the Plan have increased to 6.0% on May 1, 2008 and will
increase to 6.5% on May 1, 2009 (matched by the University).
3) If you elect to postpone your retirement after age 65 you are required to
contribute to the pension plan until you elect to retire, but no later then permitted
by the Income Tax Act (currently age 71). You may continue to work beyond age
71, but will not be permitted to contribute to the Plan and you will be required to
receive a pension from either the Plan or another prescribed vehicle.
Please note that the University will not assume you are retiring at age 65
(normal retirement date). As per the Collective Agreement you must
provide at least three (3) months written notice to your supervisor of your
retirement with a copy of this notice to the Pensions Office so that they
may prepare the appropriate forms for your retirement.
If you have any questions about the above please contact the Pensions Office
(Financial Services Division) at 966-6633 or contact any of the NAFBC members. The
NAFBC members are:
•
•
•
M. Brockbank (Library)
W. Foley (Facilities Management)
T. Karras (Facilities Management)
C. Carver (Human Resources)
L. Kennedy (Financial Services)
G. Schlichemeyer (Financial Services)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------This communication, future communications and other pension plan information are available online at:
www.usask.ca/fsd/pensions