Article 41 - Pension plan

41.01

Employees are covered by the provisions of the Teachers' Pension Plan (RRE), the Public Sector Superannuation Plan (RRF) or the Government and Public Employees Retirement Plan (RREGOP), as the case may be.

Phased retirement plan

41.02

The purpose of the phased retirement plan is to allow full-time or part-time employees who hold positions and work more than forty per cent (40%) of full-time to reduce the amount of time they work during the last years before retirement.

41.03

Obtaining phased retirement is subject to prior agreement with the Employer, taking into account the needs of the activity centre. Full-time or part-time employees may only take advantage of the plan once, even if it is cancelled before the expiry date of the agreement.

41.04

The phased retirement plan is subject to the following rules:

1) Period covered by these provisions and effective retirement

a) These provisions may apply to an employee for a minimum period of twelve (12) months and a maximum period of sixty (60) months.

b) This period, including the percentage and arrangement of work done, is hereinafter called "the agreement."

c) At the end of the agreement, the employee must retire.

d) If, however, the employee is not eligible for retirement at the end of the agreement because of circumstances beyond their control (e.g., strike, lockout, rectification of prior service), the agreement is extended until the date on which they become eligible for retirement.

2) Duration of the agreement and amount of work

a) The agreement is for a minimum of twelve (12) months and a maximum of sixty (60) months.

b) The request for phased retirement must be made in writing at least ninety (90) days before the start of the agreement. It must also stipulate the length of the agreement.

c) The employee and the Employer may agree to extend the agreement; this must be put in writing more than six (6) months before the end of the agreement. The extension covers at least twelve (12) months and at most sixty (60) months. Whatever the length of the extension, no agreement may cover more than a total of seven (7) years. If a phased retirement agreement is supposed to end at the date on which this change comes into force, or within nine (9) months following that date, there is no deadline to be met for the employee to reach an agreement with the Employer to extend the agreement.

d) The percentage of time worked must be no less than forty per cent (40%) and no more than eighty per cent (80%) of the hours of a full-time employee on an annual basis.

e) The amount and percentage of time worked must be agreed upon between the employee and the Employer and may vary over the life of the agreement. Furthermore, the Employer and the employee may agree to modify the amount and percentage of time worked during the agreement.

f) The agreement between the employee and the Employer is recorded in writing and a copy given to the Union.

3) Rights and benefits

a) For the duration of the agreement, the employee receives remuneration corresponding to the amount of time worked.

b) Employees continue to accumulate seniority as if they were not participating in the plan. For part-time employees, the reference period for calculating seniority is the weekly average of days of seniority accumulated over the last twelve (12) months of service or since the employee’s date of commencing employment, whichever date is closest to the beginning of the agreement.

c) For the purposes of determining pension eligibility and calculating the amount of pension benefits, an employee is credited with the full-time and part-time service that they were performing before the start of the agreement.

d) For the duration of the agreement, the employee and the Employer pay contributions to the pension plan based on the evolving pensionable earnings and the amount of work (full-time or part-time) that the employee was performing before the start of the agreement.

e) Employees who become disabled in the course of the agreement are exempted from paying contributions to the pension plan based on their evolving pensionable earnings and the amount of work they were performing before the start of the agreement. During a disability period, employees receive disability insurance benefits calculated according to the arrangement of and annual percentage of work agreed upon, without going beyond the date of the end of the agreement.

f) In accordance with clause 30.30, days of sick leave credited to employees may be used in the framework of the agreement to exempt them from some or all of the work to be done under the agreement up to the equivalent of the number of days of sick leave credited to the employee.

g) For the duration of the agreement, employees benefit from the same basic life insurance plan that they had before the start of the agreement.

h) The Employer continues to pay the employer share of the premium for the basic health insurance plan corresponding to that paid before the start of the agreement, providing the employee pays their share.

4) Voluntary transfer

When an employee benefiting from the phased retirement plan is voluntarily transferred, the employee and the Employer meet to agree on whether or not to continue the agreement and on any modification to be made to the agreement. Should they fail to agree, the agreement is terminated.

5) Bumping or layoff

For the purposes of applying the bumping procedure, if an employee’s position is abolished or the employee is bumped, that employee is deemed to be performing the amount of work (full-time or part-time) normally scheduled for the position. The employee continues to benefit from the phased retirement plan. In the case of an employee who is laid off and has job security, the layoff does not have any effect on the agreement; the agreement continues to apply during the layoff.

6) Termination of the agreement

The agreement is terminated in the following cases:

- retirement;
- death;
- resignation;
- dismissal;
- withdrawal with the Employer’s consent;
- disability of the employee for more than three (3) years, if the employee was eligible for disability insurance during the first two (2) years of the disability.

In these cases as well as in those provided for in clause 41.04 4), the service credited under the agreement is maintained; where applicable, any unpaid contributions accrued with interest stay on file for the employee.

41.05

Unless provided otherwise in the preceding clauses, employees who benefit from the phased retirement plan are governed by the rules of the collective agreement applying to part-time employees.