Your Top 3 Extension of Membership Questions Answered
When you leave a job, it's natural to wonder what happens next, especially when it comes to your pension. With CAAT, leaving your job doesn't mean you have to give up your valuable CAAT pension. You might have heard about the extension of membership (EOM) period. If you're wondering what its purpose is and how it affects your pension, you're not alone. Many members ask us about this important part of their pension journey.
To help you better understand the EOM, we’ve compiled answers to the three most common questions our Member Services team receives:
1. As a new member, I’m unfamiliar with the EOM period. What is its purpose?
In accordance with our Plan policy, it’s a built-in feature that allows your Plan membership to continue for up to 24 months after leaving a participating CAAT employer, providing a seamless transition to another CAAT employer if you choose.
During this 24-month period, although you’re no longer contributing or accruing additional service, your pension continues to grow in value. A key benefit of the EOM period is that your deferred pension continues to grow with conditional increases based on the Average Industrial Wage (AIW), a national measure of wage growth across Canada. This helps protect your pension’s purchasing power over time.
It is important to remember that, in most cases, your pension funds are locked-in during your membership, the EOM period and afterwards. This ensures that the money you have saved for retirement is used during retirement.
2. What happens during the 24-month period?
When you leave your job with a CAAT participating employer, you stop accruing a pension, but your Plan membership will be automatically extended for 24 months from the date of your last contribution to the Plan. As mentioned above, your pension also continues to grow through annual adjustments based on the AIW.
During the 24-month period, you will have the option to:
Rejoin the Plan easily with another CAAT employer: If you start a job with another CAAT employer, your pension contributions may automatically resume when you start. There’s no break in service, no extra paperwork - you continue building your pension while you work. Be sure to inform your new employer that you’re already a CAAT member.
Transfer your pension to another plan: If your new employer isn’t part of the CAAT Plan but offers a Canadian registered pension plan, you may be able to transfer your CAAT pension to that plan. This option can be chosen anytime during the 24-month EOM period, as long as you haven’t started collecting your pension and are under age 65.
Participate in GROWTHplus: You can transfer funds into a GROWTHplus Investment Account (GROWTHplus) from an existing eligible tax-sheltered retirement savings vehicle at any time before the end of the year you turn 71– whether you’re working or not during the 24-month EOM period. If you choose to defer your pension, you can continue to participate in GROWTHplus and benefit from the Plan’s investment returns. If you choose to take the commuted value of your defined benefit (DB) pension, your GROWTHplus account balance will either be transferred or paid out along with your pension.
3. Does my pension continue to grow during this time?
Yes, it does. Even though you're no longer making contributions during the EOM period, your earned pension continues to grow with CAAT’s conditional inflation protection feature. How? Each year, your pension amount is adjusted based on changes to the AIW.
This means your pension is keeping up with inflation-related increases. So, while you’re figuring out your next steps, your pension is still quietly working in the background, growing in value and protecting your future income.
You don’t have to navigate your pension options alone. Learn the key differences between deferring your pension with CAAT and transferring it out as a commuted value with our comparison guide. Our Deferred Pension vs. Commuted Value guide breaks down these options to help you make an informed decision.