Louise is an employee of ABC Food Services and a member of ABC’s registered pension plan. Louise’s employment was recently transferred to Centreville General Hospital through a divestment. Centreville offers HOOPP to all its employees.
At the date of transfer, Louise will be a member of both pension plans – her ABC plan (where she had 16 years of membership) and HOOPP – but she will only be able to contribute to HOOPP. She will earn all future pension benefits with HOOPP.
However:
- HOOPP must recognize her 16 years of membership with the ABC plan when determining the amount of eligibility service she is entitled to.
- The ABC plan must recognize Louise’s period of employment with Centreville for determining the benefit she’s entitled to under the ABC plan.
If Louise keeps working at her HOOPP employer for another 14 years, and then retires, she’ll receive two pensions – one from HOOPP and one from the ABC plan. Her HOOPP pension will be based on 14 years of contributory service – and her
ABC pension will be based on 16 years of service. However, she’ll have 30 years of eligibility service in HOOPP, based on 16 years with the ABC plan and 14 years with her HOOPP employer.
While eligibility service isn’t used in the formula that determines the amount of your HOOPP benefit, it is important if you want to retire early. For example, if you have 30 years of eligibility service, you can retire with an unreduced pension,
as early as age 55. At age 55, the maximum difference between unreduced and reduced pension can be as much as 30%.