What is personal information?
Personal information is information about an identifiable individual. Some examples of personal information we collect about you, our members, include:
- Age, date of birth, address, gender, salary, social insurance number (“SIN”), internally generated Ontario Teachers’ account number, beneficiary information, banking information, tax information, pension amounts, marital status, plan membership date, power of attorney, health-related information, etc.
Personal information we collect may be used for various purposes. See the Use tab for more information on how different personal information is used for different purposes.
How do we collect your personal information?
The personal information we use is collected primarily from two sources: you and your employer.
- From you – most of the personal information we gather comes directly from you through the phone, your Ontario Teachers’ online account, and other documents and communication channels.
- From employers – your employer provides your personal information when you first become a member, such as address, SIN, date of birth, pay information, etc. Once you become a member, your employer regularly provides us with information about your salary, contributions, service and other applicable member events, such as leaves of absence, termination and retirement dates, and long-term disability participation, etc. Your employer transfers this information to us electronically when they process payroll information.
- Other sources – in some cases we may collect personal information about you from other sources, such as information from your union.
How we use and disclose your personal information
We collect, use and share personal information about you for the purposes of administering the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (the “plan”) and your pension benefit, communicating with and serving you, or otherwise in accordance with your consent.
We use personal information for individual member purposes, and for broader plan purposes. Below are some examples of how we use personal information about you:
- SIN – required for the purpose of reporting income to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).
- Salary – used to calculate your pension contributions, to determine your average annual salary for pension calculations and to collect contributions if you choose to buy back service in the plan.
- Banking information – required so that monthly pension benefits can be directly deposited into your bank account.
- Plan membership status – may be used to send you surveys relating to plan administration activities and collecting survey responses.
- Legal disclosure – may disclose personal information to your authorized representative, legal guardian, appointed substitute decision maker, power of attorney or someone otherwise authorized by law, if necessary to administer the plan.
- Website usage – may use personal information collected while you’re logged into your Ontario Teachers’ online account to measure and analyze website usage to enhance your online experience.
- Data analytics – may use personal information to perform data analytics to improve our understanding of your needs, to improve the quality of services we offer you, and to facilitate the development of communications strategies.
- Overall plan management – may use personal information for aggregate analyses of plan liabilities and performance, and to evaluate, improve and manage the plan, our operations, and our service to you.
Your personal information may also be shared with your employer or other third parties when it’s necessary for administering the plan or for you to receive technical or other services. Below are some examples of third parties that we share your personal information with, and why:
- Actuarial advisors – used to perform a valuation of the plan.
- CRA – required by tax laws to report certain personal information to the CRA, such as your SIN and pension adjustment amount.
- Other pension plans – may be disclosed if you transfer into or out of the plan to another pension plan. You’ll be asked to authorize the disclosure of your personal information to both the exporting and importing plan, as required.
- Mailing services – used to send you statements and other communications about the plan and your benefits.
- Medical advisors – may be disclosed to medical advisors to assess your eligibility for disability benefits, and other plan options and features based on your medical condition.
- Survey services – may be disclosed to deliver or administer surveys relating to plan administration activities and to collect survey responses.
- Members’ legal representative – may be disclosed to a legal guardian, appointed substitute decision maker, power of attorney or someone otherwise authorized by law, if necessary to administer the plan.
Some third parties that provide services to us may be located, or may store personal information necessary to provide such services, outside Canada. Personal information stored outside Canada may be subject to the laws of the country in which the third party is located or the data is stored. That country may have laws requiring personal information be disclosed to government bodies or courts under different circumstances than would apply in Canada.
Whenever personal information is transferred to a third party service provider, we impose contractual obligations on such service provider to protect that information and to limit its use only to purposes required for the service. We perform privacy and security due diligence in respect of all third parties that are engaged to provide services to us. The purpose of this exercise is to determine whether a prospective third party service provider maintains the administrative, technical and physical safeguarding measures to protect your personal information while in the custody of such third party service provider, and otherwise assess privacy risks involved in the proposed service provider arrangement.
In some circumstances, we’re permitted by law to use and disclose personal information about you without your consent. For example, in addition to the personal information that’s required by law to administer the plan, your personal information may be used or disclosed to investigate and prevent fraud, to protect the rights, interests and property of Ontario Teachers’, its employees, and members of the plan, or if required by a court order.
Communications
We respect your choices about how you receive communications from us. Please note however, legal requirements mandate that some of our communications about pensions must be provided to all members. Some examples include the annual statement of benefits, notice of plan amendments, termination statement, notice of retirement options, etc. You may choose to receive this information either via email or post mail by calling or writing to us, or by reply email. However, you may not be able to opt out of receiving the communications entirely due to the aforementioned legal requirement.
For non-mandatory communications that provide you with information about the plan, you can change your communication preferences in your Ontario Teachers’ online account, by using the “update preferences” link or by replying “unsubscribe” to email communications sent by us. You can also opt to receive such non-mandatory communications by post mail, by calling or writing to us, or by reply email. Some examples of non-mandatory communications include newsletters such as Pensionwise and Pension News, invitations to our annual general meeting, payroll changes to pensioners, our annual report, service awareness notifications, etc.
Promotional information may also be included in some non-mandatory communications or posted on social media platforms we administer. For example, promotional information may be included in newsletters. You may unsubscribe from receiving newsletters or other emails with promotional information by replying “unsubscribe.” You may also change your communications preferences in your Ontario Teachers’ online account, by calling or writing to us, or by using the “update preferences” link within the email communication.
Plan Participation
Because your participation in the plan is mandatory, you can’t entirely withdraw from our collection, use and disclosure of your personal information for plan administration purposes. However, you may consent to and withdraw from the use of your personal information for non-mandatory purposes, such as special promotions of products and services available from third parties.
You may request access to your personal information at any time. However, in certain situations, we may not be able to provide access to all the personal information we hold about you. If that’s the case, we’ll explain the reasons for our decision when responding to your request. For example, in some cases the information may contain details about other individuals, or there may be legal, security, or commercial proprietary reasons why information is withheld.
You’re responsible for ensuring the personal information we have on file about you is accurate and up-to-date. You can make corrections to personal information in your Ontario Teachers’ online account, by phone or in person.
To request access to your personal information, please make a request in writing identifying yourself, the information you want to review and how we can contact you.
Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan
Fax: (416) 730-7807
Fax Toll Free: 1 (800) 949-8208
Email: inquiry@otpp.com
Mail: 5650 Yonge Street, Toronto, Ontario M2M 4H5
Your personal information may also be shared with your employer or other third parties when it’s necessary for administering the plan or for you to receive technical or other services. Below are some examples of third parties that we share your personal information with, and why:
- Actuarial advisors – used to perform a valuation of the plan.
- CRA – required by tax laws to report certain personal information to the CRA, such as your SIN and pension adjustment amount.
- Other pension plans – may be disclosed if you transfer into or out of the plan to another pension plan. You’ll be asked to authorize the disclosure of your personal information to both the exporting and importing plan, as required.
- Mailing services – used to send you statements and other communications about the plan and your benefits.
- Medical advisors – may be disclosed to medical advisors to assess your eligibility for disability benefits, and other plan options and features based on your medical condition.
- Survey services – may be disclosed to deliver or administer surveys relating to plan administration activities and to collect survey responses.
- Members’ legal representative – may be disclosed to a legal guardian, appointed substitute decision maker, power of attorney or someone otherwise authorized by law, if necessary to administer the plan.
Some third parties that provide services to us may be located, or may store personal information necessary to provide such services, outside Canada. Personal information stored outside Canada may be subject to the laws of the country in which the third party is located or the data is stored. That country may have laws requiring personal information be disclosed to government bodies or courts under different circumstances than would apply in Canada.
Whenever personal information is transferred to a third party service provider, we impose contractual obligations on such service provider to protect that information and to limit its use only to purposes required for the service. We perform privacy and security due diligence in respect of all third parties that are engaged to provide services to us. The purpose of this exercise is to determine whether a prospective third party service provider maintains the administrative, technical and physical safeguarding measures to protect your personal information while in the custody of such third party service provider, and otherwise assess privacy risks involved in the proposed service provider arrangement.
In some circumstances, we’re permitted by law to use and disclose personal information about you without your consent. For example, in addition to the personal information that’s required by law to administer the plan, your personal information may be used or disclosed to investigate and prevent fraud, to protect the rights, interests and property of Ontario Teachers’, its employees, and members of the plan, or if required by a court order.
We retain personal information for only as long as it’s needed to administer the plan or as otherwise permitted or required by law. In some cases, we’ll retain personal information as necessary for as long as you’re a member of the plan, or if your estate or beneficiaries have potential entitlements.
If you have any questions about how long we’ll retain your personal information, please contact us.
Our website, including your Ontario Teachers’ online account, uses cookies, analytics tools and other similar technologies to evaluate the performance and functionality of the sites. These technologies are generally used to help improve visitors’ experience on the sites – for example, sign-in information, remembering preferences, and recognizing that users have visited the site previously. Please review our website privacy notice for more information on the data that cookies collect and how these technologies are used on our website.
You’re always free to block, delete, or disable these technologies if your browser, application, or device permits. Please review your device and browser settings to allow all, allow some, or block all cookies.
Please note that if you block cookies or other similar technologies, you may not be able to take advantage of certain site features, services, applications, or tools. You may also be required to re-enter your password more frequently during your browsing session.
We use safeguards designed to protect your personal information against loss or theft, as well as unauthorized access, disclosure, copying, use or modification. Below are some examples of how we protect your personal information:
- Administrative – access to personal information is limited to employees on a “need to know” basis as required for their business functions, and employees are trained on our privacy practices.
- Technical – firewalls, data encryption, and information access authorization controls are used to prevent unauthorized access to information.
- Physical – production of hard copy documents containing personal information is discouraged and limited to legitimate business functions. Any hard copy documents containing personal information are expressly labeled as containing personal information and stored in locked filing cabinets that have restricted access. Documents are shredded or otherwise destroyed when no longer needed.
Safeguards are periodically reviewed to ensure they continue to be appropriate in protecting your personal information.
We’d like to remind you that messages sent over the internet, including email, are never 100% secure. You should exercise caution in deciding what information to send to us by email and how to secure it. We take necessary precautions to prevent sending sensitive personal information, such as SIN, date of birth, bank account numbers and names of beneficiaries, etc., to you via email.
We’ll never send you unsolicited email requests for personal information. Should you ever receive a suspicious email that looks to be from us, don’t click on it and contact us immediately.
Recommended Precautions
- Always use your Ontario Teachers’ online account or contact us by phone to update your personal information.
- Be aware of potential scammers who may use fake emails, pop-up ads, text messages, or phone calls to try to trick you into sharing personal information.
- Open emails from those you know. If you don’t recognize the sender, think twice before opening or responding to unsolicited email. And don’t click on email links or attachments from unknown sources unless you’re sure they’re coming from a reputable source.
- Keep your Ontario Teachers’ account number and password confidential. Don’t share them with anyone, including family members.
- If you believe that your Ontario Teachers’ account number or password are no longer secure, or you receive what may be a phishing email, spam or other suspicious messages that look like they’re from Ontario Teachers’, contact us immediately.
If you have any questions or concerns about how we handle your personal information, please contact us:
Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan
Phone: (416) 226-2700
Toll Free: 1 (800) 668-0105
Fax: (416) 730-7807
Fax Toll Free: 1 (800) 949-8208
Email: inquiry@otpp.com
Mail: 5650 Yonge Street, Toronto, Ontario M2M 4H5