Keep up to date with UWSA activities and connect with other members.
Friday, June 26, 2020
Memorandum
From: Sue McGrath, Manager, Pension Services, Human Resources
Re: 2019 Annual Pension Statements
Members of the University of Waterloo Pension Plan for Faculty and Staff look forward to receiving their annual pension statement each year in June. We understand the importance of member statements; receiving complete, accurate and timely information about pension benefits and available options is key to making well-informed decisions.
In early April, the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FRSA), which regulates the pension sector, released guidance in respect of the challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. FSRA advised that if a plan administrator expected to have difficulty complying with the prescribed distribution timelines, the plan administrator should advise their assigned Pension Officer, by email, as soon as possible, and FSRA would not levy administrative monetary penalty with respect to non-compliance.
On April 14, 2020, I reached out to our Pension Officer. In light of the unprecedented challenges of COVID-9, I expressed concern regarding our ability to meet the June 30th distribution deadline for the 2019 annual pension statements. On June 18, 2020, the Ontario government filed Regulation 287/20, which extends the deadline for distributing the 2019 annual statements to December 31, 2020.
My team and I have been working diligently, but we will not have the statements ready for distribution by the end of this month. Our goal is to post the 2019 annual statements to myPENSIONinfo by the end of August. In prior years we also distributed paper copies by campus mail. This year the 2019 annual pension statements will be mailed to members’ home address in August instead, along with a communication informing members about electronic distribution of all future pension communications.
Thank you for your support; we appreciate campus’s understanding given these unprecedented and sometimes challenging times.
Please feel free to share this information with your membership.
