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4.7 Contributions in Other Situations

Weekend Workers
Weekend workers are those employees who work 30 hours per week but are paid for 37.5 hours. Contributions should be deducted from their full earnings as they are credited with 52 weeks of contributory service as if they were working a full 37.5 hours per week.

Laboratory Medicine Funding Framework Agreement (LMFFA)
The LMFFA creates pay equity for laboratory physicians to bring them up to the Uniform Minimum Level of Compensation (UMLC). The additional compensation is funded by the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care and provides both additional salary and covers the cost for any benefits, including HOOPP, associated with the additional salary.

The Ministry funding is paid to employers in the form of a single payment that is meant to cover the cost of both the additional salary and any costs incurred by employers that are associated with providing additional benefits to members.

Info

Important

For HOOPP purposes, the portion of the payment that relates to salary is considered pensionable and the portion of the payment that relates to benefit costs is considered
non-pensionable as this is used by employers to pay for benefits, such as HOOPP. Therefore, member contributions are required on the additional salary but are not
permitted on the funding that employers use to pay for the cost of benefits. Employer contributions are required at the prevailing contribution rate. It is recommended that upon receiving the payment from the Ministry, you withhold the amount required to pay for additional benefits, including your employer required HOOPP
contributions. The remainder would then be paid to the member as salary and HOOPP contributions must be deducted for the member from this remaining amount.

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HOOPP will contact you directly to obtain this information. After receiving the information HOOPP will send you a notice and invoice which outlines the cost of the required contributions, plus interest charges (if applicable) and instructs you to remit the contributions to HOOPP. If the contributions are made later than the due date, additional interest will apply. HOOPP also has a statutory obligation to notify the FSRA when an employer does not remit required contributions to HOOPP within 30 days from the end of the
month for which the contributions were deducted or received.

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Late contributions paid retroactively for 1990 or later years will require an amended pension adjustment (PA) for each year in which the contributions apply. HOOPP will provide you with the revised PA upon receipt of the funds. In the event that you need to report contributions that apply to pre-1990 taxation
years, contact HOOPP.

When a Job is Jointly Funded
When part of the funding for an employee's salary comes from a HOOPP employer and part from a nonHOOPP non HOOPP employer such as a teaching facility, the member should be treated as a part-time employee for the purpose of calculating HOOPP contributions.

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Let's take the example of a member who works 52 weeks a year, and is paid a total of $150,000:
$100,000 by a HOOPP employer, and $50,000 by a teaching facility.

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In this example, the member’s contributory service for the year, measured in weeks, would be 100,000/150,000 × 52 weeks, or 34.67 weeks, assuming the member works for the entire year.

This situation only applies when there is a joint funding agreement.

Temporary Periods of Reduced Earnings
Members can choose to "top up" their contributions during a temporary period of reduced earnings (also referred to as an Approved Work Schedule Reduction), subject to your approval, as long as they have been employed by you for at least 36 months prior to the start of the period. The 36 month minimum employment requirement is waived for 2020 and 2021 only, due to COVID relief measures provided under the ITA Regulations. Examples of a temporary period of reduced earnings include participation in a temporary job-sharing program or a decision by a member to work fewer hours each week for a temporary period of time.

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Members who want to "top up" contributions can either make these contributions periodically throughout the temporary period of reduced earnings/approved work schedule reduction, or remit them to HOOPP through you, the employer, no later than twelve months (temporarily extended from six months ) after the end of the temporary period of reduced earnings/approved work schedule reduction. In April 2020, HOOPP introduced a special temporary extension which provided an additional six months (for a total of 12 months) after the end of the period to make pension contributions. This extension continues to apply only where the period started on or before December 31, 2021.

Members who choose to "top up" their contributions each payday can, at any time during the period, switch back to making contributions on their actual earnings. If they make such a switch, they will not be allowed to resume periodic contributions, and will have to provide the rest of their "topped up" contributions as a lump sum no later than twelve six months (temporarily extended from six monthsto 12 months for periods starting on or before December 31, 2021) after the end of the temporary period of reduced earnings/approved work schedule reduction. However, once the payment has been collected from the member, the total lump sum must be paid within 30 days of the end of the month in which the deductions were made.

Contributions for members who want to contribute during a temporary period of reduced earnings are based on what they were earning before the period of reduced earnings/approved work schedule reduction began. These "deemed earnings" must also include any subsequent pay increases. The contributions of part-time employees should be based on their average earnings for the 10 weeks immediately preceding the period of reduced earnings/approved work schedule reduction. If the member does not "top up" contributions within twelve six months (temporarily extended from six monthsto 12 months for periods starting on or before December 31, 2021) from the end of the period of reduced earnings, they lose the opportunity to contribute, and you are relieved of any responsibility to match the contributions. HOOPP's buyback rules do not apply in this situation, so the member is unable to purchase the service later.

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If the member's contributions are received as a lump sum after you have completed your annual member data collection for the year in which the temporary period of reduced earnings began, contributions will need to be submitted via a Lump Sum payment process in HOOPP Insight.

Interest will be charged on lump sum payments received more than 30 months 15 days after the beginning employer submission of contributions for the temporary period of reduced earnings.

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Contributions on Termination Payments
The table below summarizes the way HOOPP treats pension contributions for various payments that may be made to members upon termination of employment. Whether or not HOOPP contributions are made on these amounts depends on the type of payment, and the method by which the payment is made. 

Type of Payment

If paid as…

Contributions required

Payments in lieu of termination notice period not exceeding amount required by Employment Standards Act or collective agreement

lump sum

yes

salary continuance

yes

Employment Standards Act or collective agreement

 

 

Payments in lieu of termination notice period exceeding amount required by Employment Standards Act or collective agreement

lump sum

Contributions allowed on excess portion if employer and member agree to make them and if the employment relationship continues for the applicable period.

salary continuance

yes

Severance pay

lump sum

no

salary continuance

yes

Other: retiring allowances, lump sum payments in lieu of benefits, etc.

lump sum

no

According to ITA rules, members cannot continue to contribute to HOOPP after the date their employment is terminated. Contributions are permissible when a member receives severance pay as salary continuance because their employment continues beyond the date they stop working but contributions are not permissible when a member receives severance as a lump sum payment because the employment relationship ends. As a general rule, contributions should not continue after the date of termination that appears on an employee’s Record of Employment (ROE).

Involuntary termination or retirement settlements may affect a member's pension benefits. Contact HOOPP before finalizing any settlement that will provide the member with additional service or pensionable earnings to ensure it does not contravene the HOOPP Plan Text or legislation governing pension payments. HOOPP cannot be bound by agreements made between members and employers if the agreement does not conform with applicable legislation or the provisions of the Plan. In addition, if you are unsure about any of the types of payments outlined in the chart that appears above, contact
HOOPP for help.

If you are offering a severance package consisting of several different types of payments, for example, payment for a period of notice and then severance payments (paid out in the form of a salary continuance) until the member finds work, contributions are required on the pensionable portions of the
package as described earlier, regardless of the order in which the payments are made.

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