Buying service for a leave

Learn more about leave types, purchase options, the value of purchasing service, costs, and deadlines.

1. Eligibility for buying service for a leave

3. Purchase options

5. What the cost will be

7. Process: lump-sum payment

2. Which leaves you can buy

4. What deadlines are involved

6. Process: continuous contributions

8. What to discuss with your employer

What deadlines are involved

If you are taking an Employment Standards Act—approved leave of absence and wish to continue making pension contributions while on leave, you must apply within 30 days of starting your leave.

If you are making a lump-sum payment, you must apply after your leave is over and by the following deadline (whichever happens first):

Within five years from the end of the leave
If you buy an annual portion of a multi-year leave, within five years from the end of the portion that is purchased. You don’t need to wait until you return to work to buy an annual portion of a multi-year leave.
If you stop working for a plan employer, are not going to work for another plan employer and the five-year deadline has not passed, within 30 days of ending your employment with all employers in the plan.

Not returning to work after a leave

If you decide not to return to work after a leave and want to buy the service, you must apply within 30 days after your employment with all plan employers ends. We will calculate the cost for you to buy this service once your employer confirms your last day of work.

Buying service and ending employment

If your job ends with your employer that participates in the plan, you may decide to:

Keep your contributions in the plan until you apply for your pension
Withdraw your pension contributions from the plan entirely and transfer them to a locked-in retirement vehicle
Transfer your pension contributions to a new employer with a different pension plan, if a reciprocal transfer agreement exists between the Teachers’ Pension Plan and your new pension plan
See Employment for details.

In these cases, you must wait until the process of buying service is completed before we are able to process your withdrawal or transfer request.

Deadline to pay

When you apply to purchase service, we will send you a statement outlining the cost and payment due date. You must pay by the due date on the statement to be eligible to purchase the service at that cost. If you do not pay by the due date, and you are still eligible to purchase the service, you may apply to have the cost recalculated.