Legislative and regulatory amendments to the Pension Plan for Management Personnel (PPMP)

Important

Easing measures during the pandemic

Health and social services sector

Due to the state of public health emergency, which was declared due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Minister for Health and Social Services issued a ministerial order in July 2020 that provides for easing measures for retired members and beneficiaries of the Pension Plan of Management Personnel (PPMP) who return to work. Under the order, retired members of the PPMP who choose not to contribute to the Plan upon their return to work can return to certain positions under the PPMP in the health and social services sector without their salary being included in the calculation of the limit. To do so, the return to work must be related to the fight against the pandemic. On 1 June 2022, the Act to end the state of health emergency while providing for the maintenance of transitional measures necessary to protect the health of the population was sanctioned and provides, among other things, for the end of this measure as at 31 December 2022. Therefore, the income paid as of 1 January 2023 will be included in the calculation of the limit.

Education sector

Due to the state of public health emergency, which was declared due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Minister for Health and Social Services issued a ministerial order in December 2020 that provides for easing measures for retired members and beneficiaries of the Pension Plan of Management Personnel (PPMP) who return to work. Under the order, retired members of the PPMP who choose not to contribute to the Plan upon their return to work can return to certain positions under the PPMP in the education sector without their salary being included in the calculation of the limit. To do so, the return to work must be related to the fight against the pandemic. On 1 June 2022, the Act to end the state of health emergency while providing for the maintenance of transitional measures necessary to protect the health of the population was sanctioned and provides, among other things, for the end of this measure as at 30 June 2022. Therefore, the income paid as of 1 July 2022 will be included in the calculation of the limit.

Changes to your pension plan

The Act respecting the Pension Plan for Management Personnel (PPMP) and its regulation were amended respectively on 14 November 2019 and 18 February 2020, in order to change the provisions applicable to retirees and beneficiaries under the PPMP who choose to end their PPMP membership when they return to work.

The main amendments to the provisions of the PPMP are the following:

  • Certain rules for returning to work vary whether the employment held during the return to work is covered by the PPMP, the Government and Public Employees Retirement Plan (RREGOP) or the Pension Plan of Peace Officers in Correctional Services (PPPOCS).
  • If the employment held during that period is covered by the PPMP and the person chose to end his or her plan membership, new terms and conditions have been introduced to determine how returning to work affects the retirement pension paid during that period.

Note that there are no changes to the rules that apply to retirees and beneficiaries under the PPMP who continue their plan membership when they return to work.

Rules that apply to retirees and beneficiaries under the PPMP who choose to end their plan membership when they return to work

Affected plan: PPMP

Effective date: 1 March 2020

The new legislative and regulatory provisions apply to persons who meet all of the following criteria:

  • The person is retired and a PPMP beneficiary.
  • The person is returning to work or has already done so as of 1 March 2020.
  • The person holds pensionable employment covered by the PPMP, the RREGOP or the PPPOCS.
  • The person chose to end his or her PPMP membership.

The terms and conditions vary according to the pension plan that would apply to the employment held by a retiree when he or she returns to work.

If the employment held is covered by the PPMP when a retiree returns to work

For each calendar year, that is, between 1 January and 31 December of the current year, a retiree receives his or her retirement pension in full until the day the salary that is paid to him or her exceeds the threshold determined based on the calculation indicated below.

Once the threshold is reached, the pension that is paid to a retiree is reduced in proportion to the number of days of service that would have been credited had he or she been a plan member.

The portion of the retirement pension that is not paid because the threshold is reached is indexed as though it had been paid.

On 1 January of each year, a new threshold is determined and the retirement pension becomes payable in full.

The threshold

The threshold is calculated using the following formula:

  • the basic annual salary on the date on which a retiree stops working, or on the date on which the most recent return to work with membership ended, indexed annually using the rate of increase of the Pension Index (PI) on 1 January of each year [1]; minus
  • yearly retirement pension amount that would be payable to a retiree if no reduction were applicable due to integration with the Québec Pension Plan.

If a retiree returns to work in the same year as the year in which he or she ended his or plan membership because he or she has retired, the threshold is adjusted proportionally to the number of days for which the pension was paid or would have been paid in the year in which membership ends with respect to the total number of days in that year.

The salary paid that is taken into consideration to determine whether the threshold is reached

For each calendar year, the salary that is taken into consideration to determine whether the threshold is reached corresponds to all the pensionable salaries [2] paid to a retiree in the periods during which he or she chose not to contribute to the plan. However, the salaries paid during which a person returned to work and chose to contribute to the plan and the salaries that were paid prior to the retirement date are not taken into consideration to determine whether the threshold is reached.

Important

For 2020, the salaries paid prior to 1 March 2020 are not taken into consideration to determine whether the threshold is reached.

  1. Note 1The annual salary indexed is not subject to the limit of the maximum pensionable salary. Back to reference
  2. Note 2The sum of pensionable salaries is not subject to the limit of the maximum pensionable salary. Back to reference

If the employment held is covered by the RREGOP when a retiree returns to work

A retiree continues to receive his or her retirement pension under the PPMP in full in addition to his or her salary.

If the employment held is covered by the PPPOCS when a retiree returns to work

If a retiree comes back to hold employment in a correctional facility as a manager or employment that belongs to the category of intermediate middle managers of the Institut Philippe-Pinel, the rules that apply to the retiree are the same as those that apply to a retiree who comes back to hold employment covered by the PPMP.

However, if a retiree comes back to hold employment covered by the PPPOCS other than those listed above, the rules that apply to the retiree who comes back to hold employment covered by the RREGOP apply.

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