Data reporting

Would a disciplinary measure unpaid leave be considered as Grievance leave?

If a grievance is filed, the leave should be reported as a grievance. If the disciplinary measure is not grieved, it should be reported as an unpaid leave of absence.

Under what circumstance will the Plan issue a tax receipt for a service purchase?

A tax receipt is issued when a cash payment is received directly from the member. If the member provides funds to the Employer, this cash payment should be included on the T4 as contributions.

How can an employer initially offer a purchase to an employee, at the time the leave is being reported?

The employer can print off the leave form and complete the purchase section and provide to the member.

Specific to the PAL processes shared today, will there be a 'step by step' quick reference guide available?

The webinar slides provided shows the steps of how to report aa leave and complete a purchase request.

We need to be able to re-assign the leave to someone else in our organization. Is this possible?

Not at this time. In the future, we will be adding the assignment of leaves in PAL.

The leave reporting in PAL does not ask for deemed earnings, service or contributions. We had to provide this with the PDF forms. Will we be asked for that information later?

Yes, reporting leaves on PAL only allows for reporting a leave start and a leave stop. If you need to complete the purchase section of the leave form, you will provide the deemed earnings, service, or contributions when the member is ready to purchase the period. They can do this using the request a purchase feature in My Pension. If My Pension isn't used, you can complete the purchase form from the employer manual.

When an employee terminates from a leave, does a leave end (reason: term) and termination need to be processed?

Yes. We need to know the leave end date and the employer needs to submit a termination application for the member.

Can we do a purchase request form without the employee requesting it in PAL themselves?

Yes. Use the leave form from the employer manual and complete and provide to the member. We encourage you to ask members to register for My Pension so they can initiate a pension purchases online.

Will the "expected result" for service, contributions be added to the Purchase request form, similar to other forms on PAL?

Yes. In the future, we will add the expected results for contribution and service to the purchase request section.

Sometimes some suspension from work is reported as unpaid leave of absence, but later on if the decision changed to pay these days as regular work days, can we cancel the submitted leave?

Yes, you can cancel the leave. Reach out to your Employer Pension Analyst to report the cancelled leave.

We have many employees who are DBplus members who could come and go from employment with us up to 3 times a year. Are we expected to provide this information each time?

No. For Other Than Regular Full Time (OTRFT) members who work contract to contract, the time between contracts is not considered a leave that can be purchased. These gaps between contracts should not be reported as leaves.

To follow up on the DBplus question, if they take a leave during their contract those leaves can be reported in PAL (perhaps started a statutory leave before the contract ended)

If an OTRFT member has a leave within their contract period and they have hours they are unable to work because of the leave, this should be reported as a leave period.

Please confirm that employers can still accept and process payments for purchases before PSPA has been requested by the plan.

Yes. You can accept and process payments for purchases before Past Service Pension Adjustment (PSPA) approval from CRA.

I believe in the PAL demo it showed the purchase cost being split between Member and Employer and on the resulting form it showed it all being under Member. Is this correct?

In the demonstration, we used an example of the Statutory Leave form which shows the Member contributions in the purchase information section and below it shows the total member contributions and total matching employer contributions for the purchase. The layout of how the information is entered in PAL is different than how it is displayed on the form. Referencing the total member contributions and total employer contributions on the form will match what was entered in PAL.

Will PAL calculate the service for each active period if there are multiple leaves reported throughout the year? If more than one leave is reported, should we use “first day back to work” from the previous leave, as the “first work day of the first pay period for the year” field?

If a leave has been reported in the current year, you need to indicate the most recent active period so the "first work day of the first pay period for the year" should show as the return-to-work date from the previous leave that was reported.

1. Why can't you enter a retro date? 2. Why can't you enter end date at the same time as start date?

You can enter leave starts retroactively in PAL for the current year. However, it is a two-step process where you need to enter the leave start information and then complete the leave end information in PAL.

If a member completes a purchase request and the information they have entered is incorrect, would we have the option to correct it?

The purchase information the member is submitting is based on the leave start and stop information reported by the employer. The member is not able to update or change this information. If this information is incorrect, you will need to contact your Employer Pension Analyst to correct it.

When you print the purchase quote to be sent to the member, shouldn't it indicate the total purchase cost (i.e., employer + employer)?

The forms will show the total cost by adding the member and employer contributions if the purchase is cost shared. For leaves that are member paid, the member contributions should be two times the deemed contributions. This this will show as the total cost on the form.

How would an employer know which members have portal accounts?

We currently do not have a list or report of which of your members are using My Pension. We are looking into this to see if this is something we can provide in the future. In the meantime, we encourage you to ask members to register for My Pension so they can update their contact information, view Annual Statements, and more.

Where is deadline to purchase entered? What is provided to the employee? We need the form to have start date, end date, purchase deadline date on one form printable.

The purchase deadline will be populated by PAL and will be 6 months from the leave end date. The form will have the leave start, leave end date and the purchase deadline if the leave start and leave end were reported in PAL.

Is a process flow chart that illustrates both the reporting and purchase process available?

No, we don't have a process chart at this time. We do have PDF timeline documents on our website that outline the leave and purchase process for each type of leave and purchase.

Once election is made to purchase, how is this submitted?

You should print or scan the form that the member has signed and send to CAAT via Message Centre in PAL.

Can an employer report a future leave end date immediately after reporting the leave start date, or do they need to wait until after a leave has ended?

You are not able to report any future-dated leave starts or leave end dates in PAL. You will need to report when the leave starts and when the leave ends.

It will not be efficient for us to hold onto paperwork to enter the CAAT piece on the date of leave or later. Leave processes are done ahead of time to meet payroll deadlines etc. Can this please change.

Thank you for your suggestion. We have set up the leave start and leave end reporting so that it is reported when it has started or when it is confirmed that it has ended. This is to avoid any corrections or revisions if these dates change prior to the leave starting or ending.

When reporting a leave start, can an employer report retroactive earnings that were paid prior to the last contribution date?

If the retroactive earnings are only for current year, you can include these earnings as earnings prior to the leave. If the retroactive earnings are for prior years, do not report these on the leave form and report these on the DCT with the allocations for the years the earnings are to be applied.

If a member does not have a portal account, how would they initiate a purchase?

They should contact their employer to initiate a purchase and the employer will complete the appropriate form from the employer manual. We encourage you to ask members to register for My Pension so they can update their contact information, view Annual Statements, initiate pension purchases, and more.

Can member signature be electronic?

We are currently reviewing electronic signatures and will provide more information on this in the future.

Will purchase quotes be updated to advise members that PSPA approval is no longer required before remitting payment?

We will be updating the forms and Employer Manual with this updated information.

Q. Can employers choose to submit individual leave forms as opposed to the worksheet?
A. Yes, employer can continue to submit the forms. The worksheet is available if employers want to avoid submitting forms.

Q. Will the Plan provide employers with an unlocked LOA form in a Microsoft Word format so that we can efficiently offer the option of the leave purchase to employees?
A. Yes, we will provide the WORD version of the form on our website.

Q. Does a member need to resign employment (i.e. does a bona fide termination need to occur) in order to collect pension payments?
A. Yes, a member must have a bona fide termination from their employer to start their pension with the Plan.

Q. If a member becomes retirement eligible during their EOM period, does the Plan reach out in advance to advise the member?
A. No, the plan does not reach put during the EOM period. If the member wishes to retire during the EOM period they would need to contact the Plan. The Plan will send the retirement option documents at the end of the EOM period.

Q. Is it mandatory for a surviving spouse to sign off on a death benefit application form?
A. No, it is not mandatory for the surviving spouse to sign the Death Benefit Application form.

Q. Is the vacation accrual for the calendar year or for the fiscal year? Our vacation is calculated based on the fiscal year.
A. The vacation accrual that is allowed to be included would be for the current benefit year. The benefit year can vary with employers and collective agreements.

Q. Can DBplus members begin to initiate pension purchases on April 1st or do they need to wait until the "tool" is ready in mid-April?
A. Members can complete the DBplus OTRFT purchase application and send it to the Plan to get an estimate of the amount of pension their purchase will provide. This form is available in the Employer manual. Other types of leaves can be submitted, but the Plan will not start processing them until July 1.

Q. Where can DBplus members get the purchase forms?

A. Members can access the DBplus purchase forms after completing an estimate in the DBplus Purchase Estimator, which will be available in mid-April. For now, they can get the forms from their employer as these are available in the Employer Manual.

Q. Who determines the purchase adjustment factor? Is there or will there be a table available for reference?
A. The DBplus pricing methodology (purchase adjustment factor) was developed by the Plan, and approved by the Board of Trustees. It is calculated as 1.4% per year for each year the member is away from their normal retirement date (calculated on a day-by-day basis). We can prepare a table for your reference and place it in the Employer Manual.

Q. Will the existing DBprime pension estimator or ACE tool be enhanced to include a side-by-side comparison of one's pension (with and without a pension purchase), similar to the new DBplus estimator?
A. Updates to the DBprime 3-Step Estimator are not being considered at this time, but we will look at the possibility for a future enhancement. For now, members can add the purchased service into the Estimator in order to get an estimate of the value of a purchase.

Q. You mentioned that this process could be used to purchase pre-enrolment service. Can you please confirm if this is an option for DBplus members?
A. Pre-enrolment service means any OTRFT service a DBplus member has prior to enrolling in the Plan. Members earning a pension in DBplus can purchase a period prior to joining the Plan, but the employer does not match the contributions. Employer matching is only available to full-time members who had Sessional, Appendix D or full-time contract service before January 1, 2014 prior to enrolling in the Plan and becoming full-time.

Q. Will the DBplus pamphlet also be available in mid-April or will it be provided to employers earlier?
A. The pamphlet will be available to members in mid-April. If you would like an electronic copy earlier, please contact your Employer PA.

Q. How is the Plan handing the pre-enrolment applications that I've already submitted?
A. We have followed up with members and employers regarding the timing of the service purchases, and have confirmed that T4 earnings are required. As soon as we have all required information, we will begin processing the quotes.

Q. Why can most purchases only be made by transfer from an RRSP or a LIRA ?
A. This is to simplify the tax implications for members. It ensures that the funds they use for the purchase are already tax-sheltered, and that there will be no further tax implications

Q. When will the member newsletter be distributed?
A. The member newsletter will be distributed in mid-April.

Q. Why do we need to enter the PA for a change between FT and OTRFT employment?
A: The PA formula for each of the two plan designs is different, so we require two PAs in this case.

Q. Has the 60/20 rule changed to the 50/20 rule?
A: No. The 60/20 rule is about eligibility for an unreduced pension. The 50/20 rule refers to a member becoming eligible to retire. The two rules are separate provisions, and neither one is new.

Q. Does "related employer" include the non-CAAT employers under DB Prime and DB Plus
A. No. A related employer is any employer that participates in the CAAT Plan.

Q. Will there ever be a change to the process? We find that when option documents are sent to us, we can get the member to sign and S-Doc back to ensure their pension is received on time.
A. CAAT has a direct to member approach for option documents. This stems from the strategic direction set by the Board of Trustees several years ago. In special circumstances, we are happy to S-DOC the option documents to an employer to accommodate an exceptional situation.

Q. For vacation payouts at retirement, is the year the calendar year or the vacation year? For example, our vacation year is April 1 to March 31.
A: In the year they retire, a member can opt to make their vacation pay in respect of that year’s unused vacation pensionable. This is based on the vacation year (e.g. from April 1, to March 31), and not the calendar year.