3.2 Full-time Employees

In general, a full-time employee must join HOOPP and begin making contributions as of the date of hire. Once enrolled in the Plan, an employee will generally remain a member of HOOPP until they leave all employers where they are enrolled and contributing. Guidance for certain situations is provided below. For information on employees who participate at more than one HOOPP employer, please see 3.3 Part-time Employees and Concurrent Members.

Hired Before Employer Joined HOOPP
Full-time employees hired before your organization joined HOOPP do not have to join the Plan unless your organization made enrolment compulsory for all employees or certain classes of employees as a condition of employment, in which case employment law considerations may apply. An employer may choose to make HOOPP enrolment compulsory for certain classes of employees where the employer elects to offer HOOPP as a new pension plan for their organization.

Otherwise, full-time employees hired before your organization joined HOOPP may join the Plan on the date the employer joined HOOPP, or on any subsequent date.

Weekend Workers
A class of full-time employees known as "weekend workers" includes employees who typically work 30 hours per week, but are paid (and contribute on) the equivalent of 37.5 hours of pay, and thus are treated as full-time employees. A new employee hired as a "weekend worker" must enrol in the Plan immediately. Contributory service will be earned at the full-time rate.

Part-time to Full-time
When a part-time employee who has not already enrolled in HOOPP becomes employed in a full-time position, they must join the Plan as of the date they become employed in a full-time position.

Full-time to Part-time
When a full-time employee who already joined HOOPP becomes employed in a part-time position, they can continue to be enrolled in HOOPP and to make contributions to build their pension benefit. The Plan also permits these employees to elect to stop making contributions, as follows:

Have the member complete a Contributions Waiver (a Sample HOOPP Member Contribution Waiver is available from HOOPP Insight), keep a copy for your records. You do not need to submit a copy to HOOPP.
You must submit the employment and contribution status change in HOOPP Insight using the Member Basic Data data collection.
The member’s election to stop making HOOPP contributions is effective on the date their part-time position begins.
This option is based on the member’s change in employment status. If the member is employed at a part-time position by more than one employer and elects to stop making contributions, this election applies to all HOOPP employers where they are employed part-time and the member is expected to notify all of their part-time employers.
If they want to resume contributing while working part-time, the member can make this election anytime. Submit the contribution status change information to HOOPP in HOOPP Insight using a Member Basic Data data collection. Once the member restarts their contributions, they will not have the option to stop again.

Incorporated Physicians

Incorporated physicians participating in the Plan are deemed to be full-time employees of their MPC and begin making contributions as of the MPC participation date or the date the MPC’s participation agreement was amended to provide for the incorporated physician’s participation.