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July 2020 Roundup - Read the Employer News

CAAT Pension Plan Employer Services

News

Member Annual Statements – majority mailed out by June 30

Annual statements for retired, deferred, and members in the extension of membership were mailed before the end of June. The majority of active member statements were mailed by June 30. A small number require additional review to ensure accuracy. We are reviewing these now and will be sending them in batches as reviews are completed. We expect to have all reviews and statements complete by August 31. If members ask about the status of their statement, let them know that they should receive their statement by the end of August.

New videos for members: Understanding your Annual Statement

Our new video series introduces members to their annual statement. If you have members who want to know more about the information on their annual statement, please share the following links with them:

  • For members in the College system (caatpension.on.ca)
  • For members whose employers participate in DBplus only (dbplus.ca/members)

June 30 retirements – additional payment run to support June 30 retirements

We completed an additional pension payment on July 14 for members whose documents were received by July 3. For any member whose documents were received after July 3, the first pension payment will be made August 1 (with a retroactive payment for July).

 

The Annual Member Survey – share the link with your members

We value all feedback from our members, so please encourage your members to participate in this year’s survey. Members receive a link via email to the survey. The retired member survey will be sent out later this summer. We will provide more information on the employer survey in the future.

Employers without member-direct communication services: If you received an email to pass along to your members, please forward it to them promptly so all Plan members have enough time to fill out the survey.

If you have passed the survey along already, please remind your members to complete it. If you would like to implement member-direct services from the Plan, contact your employer PA to get started.

 

Member and employer portals coming in 2021

We are currently in the process of developing portals that will improve the services we provide to members and employers.

The employer portal will simplify pension administration and reduce work effort by enabling you to initiate transaction and track progress in real time.

The member portal will provide members a secure location to keep up-to-date on their pension, get estimates, and initiate some transactions.

We will provide an overview of the communication plans for employers and members at the July employer update. Be sure to attend to learn more about how we’ll be rolling out this exciting improvement in pension services.

 

Updated forms coming to the Employer Manual mid-July

CAAT now has members across Canada. As pension administration rules differ depending on jurisdiction, we have made some minor updates to the language in our forms so they apply for members across Canada.

The changes include updates to the following:

  • An updated definition of common-law spouse to be inclusive of all jurisdictions. We have appended a page with the definition of common-law spouse for every jurisdiction to the relevant forms.
  • Only Ontario and Nova Scotia have pension legislation that allows a children’s benefit in the case of a death before retirement where there is no spouse. Updates to the relevant forms clarify the definition of eligible child as applying only in Ontario and Nova Scotia.
  • Added functionality to support reporting of the jurisdiction of employment, contribution rate, and others.

The forms will be posted mid-July.

Please make sure to use the updated forms moving forward.

Change of Employment

  • Section C New: Drop-down added to select jurisdiction of employment
  • Sections D and E  New: Fields have been added to provide any previous year earnings and contributions for members switching Plan designs

Death Benefit Application

  • Introduction section  New: Drop-down added to select jurisdiction of employment
  • Section E  Update: Spouse definition to be inclusive of all jurisdictions (refer to “Spouse Definition by Jurisdiction” page)
  • Section E Update: Revised description of pre-retirement death benefit to clarify that the eligible child benefit is only applicable in Ontario and Nova Scotia
  • Page 3  New: “Spouse Definition by Jurisdiction” information page

Deferred Pension Application

  • Section A  Update: Spouse definition to be inclusive of all jurisdictions (refer to “Spouse Definition by Jurisdiction" page)
  • Page 2  New: “Spouse Definition by Jurisdiction” information page

DBplus Enrolment

This form is to be used to enrol any employee who will be earning a pension in DBplus

  • Title change  Formerly titled: Other Than Regular Full-Time Employees Pension Plan Enrolment
  • Section B  Update: Spouse definition to be inclusive of all jurisdictions (refer to “Spouse Definition by Jurisdiction” page)
  • Section B New: No requirement for a member who is enrolling to indicate marital status other than “married” or “single” (removed “widowed”, “divorced” and “separated” checkboxes)
  • Section C  Update: Revised description of pre-retirement death benefit to clarify that the eligible child benefit is only applicable in Ontario and Nova Scotia
  • Section D  Update: Wording changed from “Are you currently employed at another College or related employer?” to “Are you currently employed with an employer that participates in the CAAT Pension Plan?”
  • Section F  New: Drop-down to select employment status
  • Section F New: Drop-down to select jurisdiction of employment
  • Section F New: Field to input the contribution rate (for use by certain employers)
  • Section F Update: Wording now indicates the type of position held by the member (applies to colleges only)
  • Page 2  New: “Spouse Definition by Jurisdiction” information page

Full-Time Employees Pension Plan Enrolment

This form is to be used to enrol any employee who will be earning a pension in DBprime

  • Section B  Update: Spouse definition to be inclusive of all jurisdictions (refer to “Spouse Definition by Jurisdiction” page)
  • Section B New: No requirement for a member who is enrolling to indicate marital status other than “married” or “single” (removed “widowed”, “divorced” and “separated” checkboxes)
  • Section C  Update: Revised description of pre-retirement death benefit to clarify Ontario and Nova Scotia only
  • Section F  New: Drop-down to select jurisdiction of employment
  • Section F Update: Wording to indicate the type of position held by the member (applies to colleges only)
  • Page 2  New: “Spouse Definition by Jurisdiction” information page

Leave notification and purchase request within six months from end leave, Statutory Leave of Absence

  • Title change Formerly titled: Employment Standards Act Leave of Absence to Statutory Leave of Absence
  • This change is to ensure the form applies to any jurisdiction’s statutory leaves
  • Section B  Update: Description of DBplus earnings changed from “T4 earnings” to “Eligible earnings”

Member Change of Information

  • Section C  Update: Spouse definition to be inclusive of all jurisdictions (refer to “Spouse Definition by Jurisdiction" page)
  • Section D  Update: Revised description of pre-retirement death benefit to clarify that the eligible child benefit is only applicable in Ontario and Nova Scotia
  • Page 2  New: “Spouse Definition by Jurisdiction” information page

Pension Application

  • Introduction section  New: Drop-down added to select jurisdiction of employment
  • Section C  Update: Description of earnings changed from “T4 earnings” to “Eligible earnings”
  • Section E  Update: Spouse definition to be inclusive of all jurisdictions (refer to “Spouse Definition by Jurisdiction” page)
  • Section F  New: Checkbox to report “unknown” under the question “Is the Member going to work at another participating employer?”
  • Page 3 New: “Spouse Definition by Jurisdiction” information page

Retired Member Change Request

  • Section D  Update: Spouse definition to be inclusive of all jurisdictions (refer to “Spouse Definition by Jurisdiction page”)
  • Page 2  New: “Spouse Definition by Jurisdiction” information page

Termination Benefit Application

  • Introduction section  New: Drop-down to select jurisdiction of employment
  • Section C  Update: Description of earnings changed from “T4 earnings” to “Eligible earnings”
  • Section C New: Column for earnings from the previous year
  • Section E  New: Checkbox to report “unknown” under the question “Is the Member going to work at another participating employer?”

The smartforms are not impacted by these updates.

 

Updates to booklets for members

As part of our ongoing review of our member communications, we have made updates to some of our publications, and have removed others from circulation. Please destroy all copies of any publications you may have on hand and refer to the following list of changes.

These publications have been updated, or are in the process of being updated. To request print copies, contact the Plan directly, or download print-friendly PDFs from the website as they become available:

  • Welcome to the CAAT Pension Plan – One-page handout for new members
  • Disability benefits and your pension – DBprime and DBplus versions
  • Member Handbooks (DBprime and DBplus versions) – updates coming soon
  • Retirement Planning Guide – update coming soon
  • Retired Member Handbook – update coming soon
  • Purchasing service (DBprime) – update coming soon
  • Pension purchases (DBplus) – update coming soon

These publications have been discontinued, and the most up-to-date information can be found on the corresponding web pages:

  • Termination of employment
  • Your pension and separation or divorce
  • Understanding inflation protection
  • Pre-retirement death benefits
  • Protecting your privacy

 

Annual EOM and termination project (college sector employers only) – missing termination notices due July 31

The EOM and termination project is an annual project. DCT reporting identifies members who did not contribute to the Plan in the reporting year. These members are reported as non-contributory (NC).

NC members receive pension information from the Plan: those who are retirement eligible are sent a retirement package, and those who are not retirement eligible are sent an EOM letter.

We have reconciled the NC notices received through the DCT and have reached out to employers for missing 2019 termination notifications (or Excel spreadsheet listings) to get the member’s last day worked and latest address.

If you have outstanding NC notices, please provide them to your employer PA by July 31. The target completion for this annual project is October 31, 2020.

 

Outstanding pension payment confirmations – follow-up in August

Follow-up letters will be mailed to retired members and surviving spouses who have not yet returned their pension payment confirmations. The follow-ups will be sent at the beginning of August.

Please direct any retired members or surviving spouses who have questions about their letter to our member services hotline, toll-free at 1.866.350.2228 or in Toronto at 416.673.9000.

 

Quarterly Employer Reports – confirm members receiving disability benefits by August 31

Employers will receive their Q2 quarterly report by the end of July which lists EOM, deferred and other than regular full-time members, as well as those receiving long-term disability (LTD) or workers’ compensation benefits.

Please review the report and confirm that the listed members are receiving LTD or workers’ compensation benefits. The deadline to confirm and submit any additions or changes (using the LTD forms) is August 31, 2020.

 

DCT contribution reconciliation reports coming in August

The DCT contribution reconciliation reports will be sent out by our Finance team in August.

 

Webinar presentations remain popular among members

Now, more than ever, members want to know that their pension is secure. In the past month, we had over 100 members attended a webinar on an overview of the CAAT Pension Plan, from one single employer.

Presentations geared to your HR needs

To arrange a webinar for your members, contact presentations@caatpension.on.ca with your preferred date so we can secure it for you.

Upcoming Events

Be sure to take note of the following date, and register for and attend the upcoming session:

  • July 28 - Employer Update Invitations for the webinar will be sent out approximately two weeks in advance.