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Retirement

Read me first | Options before you retire | Pension & benefits | Post-retirement work (paid or unpaid)

Read me first

What's my 'normal retirement date' ... and, if mandatory retirement is over, why does the Collective Agreement still refer to it?

Although Ontario no longer has mandatory retirement, the Agreement still refers to your 'normal retirement date' - namely, the 1st of July following your 65th birthday, or on it, should the dates coincide. While it's not the deadline for your retirement, your 'normal retirement date' does play a part in establishing windows of eligibility for retirement options.

Note: as you read the questions and answers below, attend to whether 'normal retirement date' or 'retirement date' (i.e., the actual date on which you retire) is referenced.

 

How much notice am I required to give of my planned retirement date?

You can retire on 1 January or 1 July upon 9 months' written notice (or less with approval from your Dean / Principal / University Librarian and the VP Academic).

 

How do I get help in figuring out the details of my retirement?

It is crucial that you seek financial and other advice prior to retiring. YUFA members have free access to these sources of retirement advice:

  • York Retirement Planning Centre: This Centre, supported in part by YUFA, offers members extensive programming and advice on a range of retirement issues. Through the Centre, you may also obtain up to $850 of independent financial counseling paid for by the Employer. If you like, the Centre will provide a list of recommended fee-for-service consultants.
  • York Benefits & Pensions advisors: If you have a question about your pension or York's Pension Plan, you can contact your advisor in Human Resources. 
  • And of course, you can always contact YUFA.

 

Will I be a member of the bargaining unit after I retire?

YUFA is responsible for bargaining the terms and conditions of retirement for all members.

However, you'll be a voting member of YUFA, the bargaining unit only while you're doing paid post-retirement work. One key difference is that you can file a grievance only if you're a member of the bargaining unit. For more info, click here.

All this is separate from the status of your membership in YUFA, the faculty association. You'll always be a member of that YUFA.

 

Options before you retire

When is the earliest I can retire?

Once you're 55, you can receive a pension from the York Pension Fund.

 

Can I ease into retirement before my 'normal retirement date'?

Tenured members 55 and up who have at least five years of active service at York can elect, in writing, to go on 'irrevocable reduced load.' This is a workload and salary reduction of 20% to 80% of what's normal, while the Employer maintains all benefits, including making both your and its pension contributions, at 100%, i.e., as if you were on full load.

You can then further reduce your workload and salary, up to 80% of what's normal, with 9 months' notice and the agreement of your Dean / Principal / University Librarian. Year-to-year increases in workload and salary are not an option.

You can stay on irrevocable reduced load for up to 10 years or till the 30th of June in the year that your pension payments must, by law, begin - whichever comes sooner.

 

When am I eligible for an early retirement payout?

The 1st of January or July after you turn 60 until your 'normal retirement date' is the window for receiving a payout for early retirement. To be eligible you must be tenured and have been at York for a minimum number of years ranging from 2 to 8, depending on your age.

 

What's in the early retirement package?

Here's the formula:

average salary of members your age in your stream x number of years from retirement to 'normal retirement date' ÷ 5

... where 'stream' is Professorial, Alternate, or Librarian, and number of years includes fractions, e.g., if you retire 6 months before your normal retirement date, then 0.5 is your number of years.

Your early retirement package may also include other things, such as special arrangements for benefits, pension top-up, leaves, etc. This all becomes part of the written 'voluntary separation agreement' that you may negotiate with the University.

 

Is there a penalty if I fail to give the Employer 9 months' notice of my early retirement?

Big time! Your 'number of years' in the above formula would be docked by 0.5. So, if people your age in your stream are earning $100,000 on average, you'd lose out on $10,000!

 

$100,000

x

0.5

÷

5

=

$10,000

 

What are my options if I have unused sabbatical credits when I'm nearing my 'normal retirement date'?

Click here for the answer. For an explanation of sabbatical credits, see the Sabbatical FAQs.

 

What if I have unused graduate supervision credits as I near retirement?

You can use them as course release before you retire or be paid out at the Overload rate, subject to Appendix O (7). For an explanation of graduate supervision credits, see the Workload FAQ.

 

Pension & benefits

Do I have to do any paperwork to get my York pension?

Yes. Notify your unit of your impending retirement; in turn, they'll notify York Human Resources.

 

What will my pension be?

For dollar estimates of what your pension will be if you retire at ages 55, 60, and 65, refer to the Pension Statement that Human Resources sends you annually. For more estimates at other times and ages, you may also use York's online Pension Estimator. Read on or consult the York Pension Plan booklet for a brief summary of how your pension is determined.

All members of the York Pension Plan have a Money Purchase account, which is the sum of all your and the Employer's monthly contributions over the course of your career at York, plus interest earned through investments.

When you retire, the account is usually converted into a monthly pension to be paid to you for the rest of your life. The size of your pension depends on the amount of the contributions, the performance of the Fund's investments, and the number of years actuaries predict you will live. (Interesting tidbit: if you retire early, actuaries tell us that you will live longer!)

If you retire at your 'normal retirement date' and the annual pension from your Money Purchase account falls below ...

Credited years of service

x

[ 1.9% of (the average of best 5 years of earnings - YMPE) +

1.4% of the average YMPE for those same 5 years

 ]

where YMPE is the 'Year's Maximum Pensionable Earnings' as determined by Canada Revenue Agency (2010=$47,200)

... then your pension will be topped up to this amount. This is known as the Minimum Guaranteed Benefit.

Note that if you retire prior to  your 'normal retirement date,' the Minimum Guaranteed Benefit is reduced as follows:

  • 0.25% for each month your retirement age precedes 65, up to 60 months, plus,

  • 0.5% for each month your retirement age precedes 60.

 

Do I have other pension options on retirement?

Yes. Instead of the 'normal form' of pension described above, you may also elect at retirement:

  • to take your money out of the York Pension Fund by transferring the balance in your Money Purchase account, along with an amount equal to any Minimum Guaranteed Benefit to which you are entitled, to a 'locked-in' RRSP or similar life income vehicle. Please get financial advice when contemplating such a move.

  • to arrange what's called an 'optional form' of pension by filling out the necessary forms. Examples of these include: (1) integration with government benefits, which is helpful if you retire before you're eligible for unreduced Canada Pension benefits and Old Age Security; (2) 'joint-and-survivor', which improves the level of income your spouse would receive were you to die before your spouse; and (3) 'life only', which improves your pension if you don't have an eligible spouse. 

For more information about these and other pension options, consult the Pension Plan booklet or contact a York Pension & Benefits Counsellor.

 

If I should die before my spouse or other beneficiary and after I retire, what will their pension benefits be?

If you have an eligible spouse, that person will receive either a life annuity or a lump-sum benefit. If a life annuity is chosen, the amount will be at least 60% of your benefit.

If you don't have an eligible spouse, another named beneficiary will receive a lump-sum death benefit.

 

Who is an 'eligible spouse'?

For pensions, an 'eligible spouse' is a person of the same or opposite sex, living with you at the time of pension commencement, and who is:

  • legally married to you, or 
  • living with you in a conjugal relationship continuously for at least three years, or 
  • living with you in a conjugal relationship of some permanence wherein you are the natural or adoptive parents of a child.

 

If I had a pension plan with a previous employer, what should I do?

First, contact a York Pension & Benefits Counsellor to find out if you can transfer money into the York Pension Fund from your previous fund. Such transfers aren't always possible and may take some time to arrange. Second, contact your previous employer to find out whether you can transfer money out.

If both answer 'yes', get financial advice about whether a transfer would benefit you. It'll generally depend on such factors as the two pension formulae, how much money you and your previous employer had contributed, how long you worked there, and the relative performance histories of the two funds.

You must do all this within 12 months of coming to York.

 

What benefits do I get as a retiree?

Health and dental benefits are substantially reduced after retirement. For example, your prescription drug reimbursement will fall from 100% to 80% and you'll be subject to an annual maximum for dental benefits. New in 2009-12: a doubling of the lifetime maximum for out-of-country medical expenses, from $10,000 to $20,000 per eligible member. The Post Retirement Benefits Program booklet is on the York Human Resources Website.

You'll also have free athletic membership and the tuition waiver, subject to several conditions.

 

Post-retirement work (paid or unpaid)

What supports are there for my post-retirement work?

All retirees have the title 'emeritus,' access to library services, and York University affiliation for external grant application purposes.

For the following supports, you must have tenure / a continuing appointment, have been at York for at least five years, and have elected designation as 'Senior Scholar' up to 6 months after retirement:

  • an annual professional expense reimbursement (PER) until and including the 6th year after your 'normal retirement date'
  • eligibility for conference travel funds
  • use of an office (sometimes shared), if available
  • access to secretarial services, if available
  • laboratory / studio space, if available
  • computer time, if available.

 

What is my entitlement to paid post-retirement work?

If you had tenure / a continuing appointment and at least five years 'active service' at York, you're entitled to paid post-retirement teaching / librarian work.

In the latest round of bargaining, the Employer insisted that newer retirees – whose retirement would be 'voluntary' – were deserving of diminished entitlements to paid post-retirement work. For eligibility requirements and the particulars of your entitlements, click here.

Note: The clock runs out on these entitlements 6 years from your retirement date. Faculty members: whether you intend to teach or not, also be sure to give 9 months' notice until your entitlement is used up.

 

How does serving on a graduate student's supervisory committee figure into entitlements to paid post-retirement teaching?

If you're a principal supervisor of a Master's thesis or doctoral dissertation, then for each year of each such supervision, you'll be paid 1/6th of either the enriched full-course pay rate or the prevailing CUPE 3903 Unit 2 Course Director rate, depending on how much post-retirement teaching you've already done. This work counts toward the entitlements summarized in the previous question.

 

More info?

Version: May 2010