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Special Notice
November 30, 2000
=The Ministry of Education and the Ontario Teachers’ Federation (the Partners) have amended the pension plan removing the link between pension eligibility and membership in the Ontario College of Teachers (OCT).
This amendment means that plan members have not been required to maintain membership in the OCT in order to maintain membership in the plan—the two membership issues have been retroactively de-linked.
Once teachers become members of our plan by having some form of teacher certification, they remain eligible for plan membership as long as they remain employed in education in any capacity. This certification was obtained historically from the Ministry (Ontario Teacher’s Certificate, Ontario Qualification Record Card and Letter of Standing) and from the OCT since May 20, 1997 (Certificate of Qualification).
Plan Amendment – Revised requirements for plan membership
Employees meeting one of the following criteria are considered qualified and eligible to contribute to the plan:
• they have obtained teacher certification from either the Ministry of Education or the OCT; or
• their board of education (employer) holds a letter of permission granted by the Minister of Education on their behalf.
Plan membership is mandatory for any employee of a school board who has obtained teacher certification or who is teaching under a Letter of Permission.
Members teaching on a Letter of Permission are required to contribute during the period for which the letter is issued. Once the letter expires, they once again become ineligible to contribute to the plan. To validate the service you report for these individuals, please provide us with a copy of the information issued to your school board by the Ministry.
Impact on service considered “ineligible” since September 1, 1998
We have service reported for over 3,300 members where we have not obtained any verification of teacher certification. If you verify that no Letter of Permission was granted to these individuals, we will refund contributions for this service during the annual reconciliation process.
An additional 2,500 members had reported service where a portion was considered “ineligible” for pension purposes because they lost their “good standing” status with the OCT for a specific period of time. As many of the 1998 and 1999 reports are still not reconciled, some of these contributions have not yet been refunded to the school boards. We will immediately reinstate the service for these members without requiring any additional information from you. Unfortunately, where refunds for previously ineligible service have been issued, these contributions need to be reinstated in our plan.
Also, please provide us with service details for employment that is now eligible but was not reported when it occurred.
OMERS transfers
Members that accrued service with OMERS while not in “good standing” with the OCT, will need to have this service transferred into our plan under the existing MOPPs (Major Ontario Pension Plans) reciprocal agreement.
Re-employed pensioners
Since the OCT was established, we have informed re-employed pensioners that they were not subject to re-employment limits if they were not in “good standing” with the OCT. As a result of this plan amendment, all pensioners who return to employment in education will now be subject to the re-employment limits.
Contact us
We recognize that introducing retroactive change always presents challenges in the reporting process. Please let us know if there is any way that we can assist you.
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