Contributory Leaves

For Plan Rules, please visit the Admin Manual: Link

Employers are required to report contributory weeks separately for any leaves of absence if the member was part-time at any point during the year. This information is only required for Part-Time members who make contributions during a leave of absence.

To report a contributory leave through the MDC process you will need to provide the following information:

• Leave Type
• Leave Start Date
• Leave End Date
• Total Weeks Contributed for (paid)
• % of Normal earnings (% of full time equivalent)

Information provided will update the members record to correctly reflect the weeks of service they contributed for during the leave. This information is important since it is used to determine the member’s Early Retirement Reduction factor which plays a role in determining the member’s earliest unreduced retirement date and monthly pension.    

You report the total weeks the member made contributions during the leave, and the percent of normal earnings. 

To calculate the percent of normal earnings: 

• Total the hours worked during the 10 week period prior to the leave commencement and divide by 10, then
• Divide by the weekly Standard Full-Time hours, then
• Multiply by 100 (to gain the %)

Formula:  (Total hours member worked during 10 weeks prior to leave /10) / (weekly standard full-time hours) x 100

When you submit the data, HOOPP updates the member’s leave of absence to Contributory by taking the Total weeks Paid divided by the percent of normal earnings. This will determine what portion of the leave will be updated to Contributory. 

If the member does not pay for the full leave the unpaid portion will remain as a non-contributory leave of absence. The member will be able to pay for the remainder of leave within 6 months of returning to work (through Remittance Lump Sum Contributions) or they can purchase this service later through a buyback.  

The contributory leave information can be reported using the file upload process, or by manually entering the information when reporting MDC or Final data.

Example 1: Member worked a total of 150 hours during the 10 weeks prior to the leave, standard weekly full time hours in this example are 37.5.  

• (150/10) / 37.5 x 100 = 40% of normal earnings

Member’s leave of absence is Jan 1, 2018 to Sept 30, 2018 (39 weeks) and member paid for the full leave.  You report the contributory leave as:

• Total Weeks Paid = 15.6
• Percent Of Normal Earnings = 40%

HOOPP will update the member’s leave of absence to Contributory based on the reported information (15.6 total weeks paid ÷ 40% = 39 weeks).   

The member will be credited with 15.6 weeks of contributory service and 39 weeks of eligibility service to reflect they topped up during the entire leave period.

Important to note:   100% of Normal Earning’s  should only be entered when the member has worked the equivalent of Full time hours in the 10 weeks prior to the leave.  (see example 2 below)

Example 2: Member worked total of 375 hours during the 10 weeks prior to the leave, standard weekly full time hours in this example are 37.5.  In this example Part time member worked full time equivalent hours prior to leave.  

•  (375/10) / 37.5 x 100 = 100% 

Member’s leave of absence is Jan 1, 2018 to Sept 30, 2018 (39 weeks) and member paid for the full leave.  You report the contributory leave as:

• Total Weeks Paid = 39
• Percent Of Normal Earnings = 100%

HOOPP will update the member’s leave of absence to Contributory based on the reported information (39 total weeks paid ÷ 100% = 39 weeks).   

The member will be credited with 39 weeks of contributory service and 39 weeks of eligibility service to reflect they topped up during the entire leave period.