Employer Monthly - December Issue
This is our final Employer Monthly newsletter in 2021, so I’d like to take the opportunity to thank you for your steadfast commitment to Plan administration throughout the year. Last month, we shared some early results from the OMERS 2021 Social Value and Economic Contribution studies undertaken by the Canadian Centre for Economic Analysis (CANCEA). The key finding was that having a secure and stable source of retirement income improves the lives of our members and strengthens communities in Ontario. Your dedication and partnership with OMERS in administering the Plan has a profound and lasting impact on our members’ lives throughout the province.
In this issue, we have a call for you or your colleagues to participate in a photo shoot and be featured in OMERS communication materials! We are also proud to tell you that OMERS has been named one of Greater Toronto’s Top 2022 Employers. In addition, you’ll find a reminder about remitting funds for leave periods, details on receiving your annual reports and information on the new AVC contribution window. There’s also a message from the Pension Education & Relationship Management team and registration options for various webinars. And, as always, you can provide feedback through the Employer Satisfaction Survey.
Happy holidays!
Jackie DeSouza
Vice President, Employer Relations & Communications
Call for member photo shoot volunteers
We love sharing member stories and, as the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words! We’re looking for members who would be willing to have their photo taken by a professional photographer for use in OMERS communication materials, including newsletters, omers.com and our Annual Report, for example.
Our goal is to capture the many career paths that OMERS members represent, including non-teaching staff in schools, parks and recreation workers, public transit staff, police specialty units and more! If you or one or more of your employees would like to participate in an OMERS photo shoot, please email the Pension Education & Relationship Management team at education@omers.com.
More information will be sent to volunteers in January 2022.
Greater Toronto’s Top 2022 Employers
On December 3, OMERS was named one of Greater Toronto’s Top 2022 Employers in the competition’s 16th year recognizing Toronto-area employers with workplace best practices. Each year, the winners are evaluated on the same eight criteria by Mediacorp Canada Inc. and announced in a special feature published in The Globe and Mail. We’re proud to be recognized, and honoured to be in good company, for demonstrating the meaning of best practices in the workplace.
Remitting funds for leave periods
As a reminder, funds for leave periods with an expiry date of December 31, 2021 should be included with your December remittance.
Additionally, it’s very important to use the correct election date when reporting a leave period election, because the date determines how the leave is treated.
Receiving annual reports
To assist with your OMERS administration responsibilities, your organization’s annual reconciliation lead will receive the following reports in late January:
Disability Report
This report lists all members:
who commenced a disability benefit in the reconciliation year, or
who ended a disability benefit in the reconciliation year, or
for whom a Request for an OMERS Plan benefit (e-Form 143) form was submitted to OMERS for which the disability benefit has not yet been approved.
Members Approaching Age 71
This report lists members who will reach age 71 by the end of the current calendar year.
Annual Statement of Payment Remittances
This report provides an overview of your monthly remittances from 2021, including a cheque listing and summary.
The reports will be securely delivered by e-Correspondence through e-access. An email notification will be sent to the annual reconciliation lead when the report is available, however, the report will be viewable by all financial e-access users at your organization.
Introducing an AVC contribution window
Earlier this year, OMERS passed a resolution to publish a mid-year investment update for the first time to enhance our transparency and share our progress with you. Because of this, the window of time in which members can make lump-sum contributions to their Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVC) account is changing. Starting in 2022, members can make lump-sum transfers to their AVC account between January 1 to June 30 of each year. Members may continue to make automatic and catch-up contributions throughout the calendar year.
Extension of the 2020 COVID amendments
Last year, the OMERS Sponsors Corporation Board (SC Board) passed the following three amendments to address the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic was having on our members and workplaces:
extending leave purchase deadlines by one year for members returning from a leave in 2020 and 2021;
permitting service to be purchased in respect of periods of temporary layoff starting in 2020 and 2021; and
recognizing changes to the minimum employment requirements under the Income Tax Regulation applicable to purchasing periods of reduced pay.
In recognition of the ongoing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and to provide members and employers flexibility for one additional year, the SC Board has approved amendments that will extend the first two changes for another year. This means that members returning from a leave of absence in 2022 will be provided an extended deadline to complete a leave purchase by one year (i.e., extension to December 31, 2024) and members who are absent due to a temporary layoff initiated in 2022 will have the option to purchase this period of layoff at 2x member contributions. The third amendment described above will continue to recognize applicable changes to the Income Tax Regulation if they occur.
The systems are currently being updated to reflect these changes, and all generated election forms will display the correct election deadline. For any temporary layoffs, please use the specific leave type 2020-2022 Temporary Layoff.
As part of our commitment to keep members, employers and stakeholders informed about important OMERS developments, information regarding these amendments will be shared through various resources including our website. In addition, OMERS dedicated COVID-19 webpage will continue to be updated for the foreseeable future so that you can continue to refer to its content and information.
A message from the Pension Education & Relationship Management team
The role of the Pension Education & Relationship Management team is to support you and ensure we’re providing the knowledge and resources to help you effectively administer the Plan. As the name change from Education & Training to our new moniker suggests, our partnership is just as important as the education piece. We wanted to take this moment to say thank you!
With your support and feedback, we launched OMERS Learning Experience (OLE), a game-changing learning platform that will allow us to curate comprehensive training options. You also assisted us in so many other ways this year, from asking questions in webinars, to helping us create a more user-friendly e-access, and more recently, by participating in Employer Education Week.
We’re already thinking ahead to what we can offer in 2022 and look forward to our continued collaboration.
Register now for an annual reconciliation webinar
There are plenty of webinars being offered in January and February to help answer all of your annual reconciliation questions. Whether you want to focus on the process step-by-step or dive into the process with a full overview, there are options to suit your learning needs. Sign up today to reserve your spot.
Steps 1 & 2: Import and Submit e-Form 119 Data
Monday, January 17 | 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Tuesday, February 1 |10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
Step 3: Resolve e-Form 119 Exceptions
Wednesday, January 19 | 1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Thursday, February 3 | 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
Step 4: Reconcile Your e-Form 119
Thursday, January 20 | 2:00 p.m. to 2:45 p.m.
Friday, February 4 | 10:00 a.m. to 10:45 a.m.
Annual Reconciliation (e-Form 119) Overview
Friday, January 21 | 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Thursday, January 27 | 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Looking for more dates? See the full list of Annual Reconciliation (e-Form 119) webinars on our website.
Take the Employer Satisfaction Survey
Your feedback matters, and hearing it is vital to improving our services. Tell us about a recent interaction you've had with OMERS or share suggestions on working better together.
Holiday hours
Please be advised that Employer Services will be closed on the following days:
Friday, December 24
Monday, December 27
Tuesday, December 28
Friday, December 31
Monday, January 3
We’re here to help. Contact Employer Services:
Monday to Friday, 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Phone: +1 416.350.6750
Toll-free: +1 833.884.0389
Email: employerservices@omers.com
Thank you for helping us administer the Plan and deliver a wonderful experience to our members.