Leaving your job

Leaving a job with an employer participating in the plan? Find out what you can do with your plan contributions.

1. Defer your pension and keep your benefit in the plan until you retire

3. Apply for an immediate pension

2. Transfer your pension to a locked-in retirement vehicle

4. Transfer your service to another plan

Transfer your pension to a locked-in retirement vehicle

If you leave your job before your earliest retirement age, you can transfer the commuted value of your pension to a locked-in retirement vehicle. The commuted value is the amount of money that needs to be set aside today, using current interest rates, to pay for your future pension when you retire.

A locked-in retirement vehicle is an investment product that can provide a lifetime retirement income. It can include a locked-in retirement account, registered pension plan, life income fund or deferred annuity provided by a life insurance company.

Are you eligible?

You are eligible to transfer your pension’s commuted value if you are younger than the earliest retirement age of 55 (50 for certain designated public safety occupations) when you leave your job.

Other considerations

If you are appealing termination of long-term disability benefits or dismissal from your employment, call us before you choose the commuted value payment option. We will explain how this option may have irreversible consequences.
If the commuted value of your pension amount is less than 20 per cent of the year’s maximum pensionable earnings (YMPE) in the year in which the most recent commuted value is calculated, you will receive a lump-sum payment. This is known as a small benefit refund.
- For example, if you left your job and requested the commuted value of your pension in 2017 (when YMPE was $55,300) and the commuted value of your pension was less than 20 per cent of YMPE ($11,060 or lower), you would have been eligible to receive the commuted value as a lump-sum cash payment, instead of having to transfer it to a locked-in retirement vehicle. (Note: YMPE changes each year, so the threshold amount will change annually.)
If you have applied to buy service, we will not finalize the fund transfer until the purchase is complete.
If you leave your job, you may consider transferring the commuted value of your pension out of the plan, but first be aware of the many advantages you enjoy as a plan member. For more on this, see Defer you pension and keep your benefit in the plan until you retire.