Leaves of Absence - Public Service Pension Plan

Your pensionable service is used to determine how much pension you will receive in retirement. As you continue to work through your professional years, it might be necessary to take an unpaid leave of absence with your Public Service Pension Plan (PSPP) employer. Any unpaid leave periods, where no contributions are made, will cause gaps in your pensionable service that could decrease your pension benefit compared to if you did not take an unpaid leave. You can avoid gaps in pensionable service by continuing to make pension contributions during the leave of absence.

The First Year of Leave

For the first year of leave taken with PSPP, your employer will pay the employer share of contributions if you pay the employee share. Only the first year of leave is cost-shared this way. For any additional leaves, or taking an extended leave past the first year, you will be responsible for paying both the member and employer share of contributions.

You can talk with your employer about prepaying contributions for your leave or making payments while you are away.

Types of Leaves

The Income Tax Act has specific rules around the amount of unpaid leave that can be repaid and/or purchased. The maximum amount is set at three years for Maternity and Parental Leaves and the maximum amount is set at five years for General Leave.

Should you need more than three years of Maternity or Parental Leave, it is possible to use your General Leave to add time to your Maternity or Parental Leave. However, unused Maternity or Parental Leave can not be used to augment your General Leave.

Note: General Leave does not include disability-related leaves.

Repaying Contributions for Leave Service

If you are considering repaying contributions for leave service, you can initiate the process by submitting a completed Service Record (Contributions-Based Cost Application) through Secure Messaging in Your Pension Profile. Your employer’s Human Resource or Payroll & Benefits area will assist by completing Section 2 of the application. Within 30 days of receiving the complete application, a Buyback Proposal will be sent to you. This proposal will tell you what you need to know about purchasing the gap in your service.

If you do not submit an application, your employer will report the Leave of Absence early in the following year or when you leave your employment (whichever is sooner). As a result, the Buyback Proposal being calculated later, more interest may be applied to the contributions. The longer the time between your return to work and when the leave is reported, the more interest is accrued, assuming no decrease in the annual interest rate

To repay leave service, your employer must let us know by the earlier of:

90 days from the date you are sent your Buyback Proposal; or
December 31 of the year following the year in which your leave ended.

The due dates shown on your Buyback Proposal will be set based on these timelines.

Time-Sensitive Considerations

If you are already making payments when you leave your PSPP employer, you will have 90 days to finish paying for your leave service.

If you do not complete the payments, the amount of leave service attached to that leave of absence will be prorated and credited based on what you have paid for to date.

If you do not return to work at the end of your leave of absence, or if you change to a position with your employer where you are no longer a member of PSPP, you must apply to repay contributions for the leave period within 30 days of the day you become ineligible to participate in the Plan.

If you are retiring, you must complete any outstanding leave service payments prior to your pension commencement date. If the amount is not paid in full, the leave service will be prorated to reflect the payments that have been made.

Impact on Combined Pensionable Service (CPS)

If you have a CPS relationship, please click here.