• Applicant |
• Faculty/Staff |
• Leader/Manager |
• Student |
• Former Employee

Regular full-time faculty and staff are eligible to join the plan immediately upon employment. Other employees may be eligible depending on circumstances.  If you are not a regular full-time employee (including part-time, temporary or contract workers) you may become eligible to participate in either The University of Western Ontario Academic or Administrative Staff Pension Plans.  There are two ways to qualify:

• If your Western employment earnings have been at least 21% of the year’s maximum pensionable earnings* in the last two consecutive calendar years, you will be offered enrolment effective January 1st of the following year. This means your Western T4 earnings in 2012 must have been a minimum of $10,521, and for 2011, a minimum of $10,143.

-- OR --

• If you have earned at least 21% or more of the year’s maximum pensionable earnings* in the last two consecutive calendar years (minimum $10,521 in 2012 and $10,143 in 2011), and as well you have 24 months of continual service, you will be offered enrolment the first of the following month.

Participation in the plans is voluntary; however, we encourage you to consider using this very generous pension plan for your retirement savings.  Depending on the plan for which you qualify, the employee contribution can range from 1.5% to 5.5% and the employer contributions start at 7.5%.

You can use the plan to save more towards your retirement, in addition to or in lieu of making RRSP contributions.  While we hope that you have a long and sustained employment with Western, we recognize that you may not be planning a long-term relationship with the University.  It is important to note that all the funds accumulated in the plan (yours, the University's, and the investment return) are payable to you when you leave Western, regardless of the period of time you are a member of the plan.  Note: the funds are not available until you leave Western. Your options on how this money can be received (as a taxable cash payment or as a locked-in transfer to another registered plan) will be determined by the applicable pension laws at that time.  Further details are available in the Q&A and in the Self-Guided Tour (see right menu).

If you have qualified using one of the above eligibility criteria, Human Resources will send an information package to your home address, so it is not necessary for you to track this information.  If however, you believe you have met the qualification criteria, please email hrhelp@uwo.ca and we will investigate.

* The year's maximum pensionable earnings (YMPE) is the maximum amount of earnings on which contributions to the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) are based. You can get information on the CPP pensionable earnings ceiling from the Canada Revenue Agency website.

HR Vision Statement

Recognized leaders in human resource practices and strategic partners in the success of Western and its people.