June 2025 Roundup - Read the Employer News

In this edition

Annual Performance Update Hub

Thank you to everyone who attended our Annual Performance Update on May 29, 2025!

If you were unable to attend or want a recap, our event hub provides access to session recordings, materials shared during the presentation, and resources we’ve created to support employers and members.

Visit the hub to:

  • Hear from CAAT leadership, including Troy Whetstone, Vice President of Employer Services and Derek Dobson, CEO and Plan Manager
  • Learn how the Plan’s 2024 investment performance supports long-term sustainability in our Year-in-Review and Annual Report
  • Discover new and evolving tools to help members prepare for their retirement journey
Check out the event hub

Now open: CAAT annual surveys

Our annual employer and member surveys were launched on June 5 and we’re looking forward to hearing from you! These surveys are an excellent way to share your experience with us. Your input will help us improve our products and services for both employers and members.

Member Surveys

Active members received a link to their surveys via email on June 5. We appreciate your help in encouraging your employees to complete the survey. Retired members received a postcard or an email with the link to participate.

Employer Survey

Survey links were distributed to employers on June 4-5 via email. If you didn’t receive this email, please contact your Pension Analyst.

Don’t miss your chance to share your thoughts with us!

More flexibility and options in survivor benefits

At CAAT Pension Plan, we are focused on providing secure lifetime retirement income to our members. When the Plan performs well, we can make improvements to meet the evolving needs of our members. 

Thanks to sound investment decisions and prudent funding management, CAAT can implement enhancements to its modern defined benefit (DB) plan designs, DBprime and DBplus.

The Plan’s Governors approved two Plan Text amendments to enhance post-retirement survivor benefits for members under DBprime and DBplus, effective May 28, 2025:

  • 180-Month Minimum Payment Guarantee - an increase to the minimum payment guarantee from 60 times a member’s original monthly lifetime payment amount to 180 times this same amount at no additional cost. This is applicable to Plan members who are alive on or after May 28, 2025. This does not apply to survivor pensions already in pay. 

    The pension guarantee is simply a guarantee that the pension payments paid to a member and their survivors will total at least 180 times the amount of the member’s first monthly lifetime pension payment.
  • 100% Survivor Pension Option - the option to increase a member’s spousal survivor pension from 60% of their lifetime pension at the date of death to 100%, in addition to the existing 75% option, resulting in an actuarially reduced pension (if applicable). The reduction is permanent. This is applicable to Plan members retiring on or after May 28, 2025. 

These enhancements are designed to give members and their loved ones more flexibility, added financial security, and greater peace of mind in retirement.

Sending sensitive information to CAAT

CAAT takes our responsibility to safeguard members’ personal information very seriously. To meet our obligations, we have systems and processes in place to keep member data safe and secure. We train all staff about secure data handling and our technology team continuously monitors for cyber security threats.

We provide employers and members with two portals for sending information securely to CAAT:

  • My Pension: We encourage members to send documents and any other sensitive information to us using the Message Centre feature in the member portal.
  • Pension Administration Link (PAL): Employers should ensure that any member personal data is sent to CAAT using the Message Centre in PAL.

If members or employers cannot use the portals, CAAT has a secure document service that we use for personal information. S-Doc provides a secure, encrypted way to send any signed forms, option documents, and other documentation such as proof of age. This service is easy to use and protects your information.

Please remember: Email is not a secure method of communication. If you have difficulty using the portals or S-Doc, please reach out to your Pension Analyst.

Updates and reminders

Bill 229: Long-term illness leave in Ontario

A new statutory leave has been introduced in Ontario under the Employment Standards Act (ESA). The Long-Term Illness Leave comes into effect June 19, 2025, providing eligible employees with up to 27 weeks of unpaid job-protected leave in a 52-week period if they cannot work due to a serious medical condition. There are some pension implications with this new leave that need to be considered:

  • Long-Term Illness Leave qualifies as a period of disability under the Income Tax Act (ITA). This means that contributions during this leave do not count towards the 3- or 5-year maximums under the ITA – which differs from other ESA statutory leaves.
  • As with all ESA leaves, deemed earnings apply for pension purposes during this leave.

If a member has been approved for this new leave, please contact your employer Pension Analyst directly for guidance on how to report this leave and for assistance coordinating any related disability provisions.

Annual statement progress report

Annual pension statements for 2024 remain on schedule for distribution by June 30, 2025. Improvements made during the past year allowed us to enhance and streamline statement processing.

Statements have been distributed to all retired members, surviving member pensioners and deferred members. We have also met our target of completing 98% of all active member statements by May 31, for employers who work directly with CAAT. We continue to work toward a target delivery date of June 30, 2025 for the remaining 2% of statements, including small groups of special cases.

If you work with an administration partner, all statements have been distributed by mail.

The 2024 statement covers the period from a member’s enrolment date until December 31, 2024 to show accrued pension benefits and when a member will be eligible to retire, making it a valuable retirement planning resource. We encourage members to review their statements and contact CAAT if there are any errors.

June 30 retirement applications

Thank you to all employers who sent in their June 30 retirement applications this spring to give our teams as much advance notice as possible.

The deadline for submitting completed retirement election packages and supporting documents was June 11, 2025, to set up the pension payments for June 30, 2025. Completed documents sent in by July 15 can be set up for payment on August 1.

GROWTHplus: Working with financial advisors

Eligible plan members interested in participating in GROWTHplus can now use our new fact sheet to help guide discussions with their financial advisors and facilitate any transfers from registered retirement savings vehicles. Please encourage your members to download the fact sheet, also available on our member GROWTHplus page on the CAAT website.

Upcoming events

Invitations are sent straight to your inbox two weeks prior to the event. Missed the email? Registration is available on our website. For recordings of previous sessions, please visit our Employer Education Guide.

June 24: Quarterly Employer Update, 1:00 p.m.

This webinar will update you about Plan news, upcoming events, reminders and more.

Employer Education Sessions (for employers working directly with CAAT)

July 10: Eligibility and enrolment of plan members*

  • For employers with DBprime and DBplus—10 a.m.
  • For employers with DBplus only—1 p.m.

This training session will review enrolment requirements based on the provisions of the Plan and the enrolment process.

*Not applicable to employers using Automated Data Exchange.

For recordings of previous sessions, please visit our Employer Education Guide.

Portal corner

Planned outages

PAL will be unavailable for maintenance from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. on the following days:

  •  July 16
  • August 13
  • September 10
  • October 8
  • November 5
  • December 3
  • December 31

Your Q&A Corner

Q: A member would like to increase their pension contributions – is that possible?

A: No, a member’s contribution rate under CAAT Pension Plan is dictated by the employer’s Participation Agreement. As a result, members are not allowed to increase or decrease their contribution rates under the terms of the Plan.

Read more

Member learning sessions

At CAAT, we believe that building awareness and trust in the Plan is part of our mission to provide secure retirement income. We offer customized member learning sessions for employees to provide an opportunity to ask questions and learn more about the value of their CAAT pension.

These presentations are delivered by top pension experts, covering pension fundamentals, features of the CAAT Plan, retirement planning and much more! They’re perfect for new members who want to know why the defined benefit pension you offer is a big deal, and for any member who wants to make sure they can retire with confidence.

Encourage members to register by including a link to our Presentations page in your employee communications.

Register now

Industry outlook

Take a closer look at the latest trends, research and insights across the industry. Share with your employees and network!