Re-Employment Limits

Case

Staff at the Provincial Office receives a call from a retired teacher who is working as an occasional teacher. In a recent article in Pension News from the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board, there was a lead article regarding re-employment limits. The teacher is concerned about the statement that suggests volunteer work counts toward the 95/20 day re-employment limits.

Advice

Unfortunately, the Pension News article did not fully explain the manner in which volunteer work would in fact count. The OTPP has since changed the online version of Pension News. It reads as follows: “Volunteering counts toward the re-employment limit if the duties/position would normally be reported to OTP (salary and credit are associated with the work), even if the person does not accept the payment to which they are entitled. In other words, volunteering counts if the employer otherwise treats it as employment in Education.”

Discussion

The Pension Board has encountered several cases where pensioners have made incorrect assumptions. They thought that they could agree to continue working beyond their re-employment limits and just simply not be paid. Clearly, what we are talking about are individuals who are doing work that someone should be paid and the employer normally pays for that work.

Failure to follow the rules can be costly. Excess re-employment can result in pension payments that must be repaid before a pension can resume. If in doubt, contact OTPP for confirmation of the rules.

Phone: 1-800-668-0105
Website: www.otpp.com