As communicated in our previous letter, the Teachers’ Pension Plan (the “Plan”) has been amended to allow members to designate beneficiaries to receive death benefits in certain circumstances. This is considered a positive improvement, in particular, for pension plan members without a Principal Beneficiary (meaning a spouse or cohabiting partner).

All Plan Members will receive, in the mail, a second letter from Paula McDonald, CEO of the Teachers’ Pension Plan Corporation (TPPC) providing details with respect to this change. A copy of that letter can be viewed HERE.

ALL PENSION PLAN MEMBERS SHOULD COMPLETE THE DESIGNATION OF BENEFICIARY FORM. Active members are encouraged to complete the Beneficiary form online via myPENSION by clicking here. Other members can access the form HERE or contact TPPC to have one mailed to you.

The Board of Directors is pleased to report that a significant milestone was reached during the 2018 Fall sitting of the House of Assembly when Bill 45, an act respecting a pension plan for teachers, was passed. Bill 45 provided for the continued operation of the Corporation, committed Government to continue its special payments to the TPP fund along with regular contributions and outlined Government’s obligations to the TPP. On April 15, 2019 the Teachers’ Pensions Act, 2018, c.T-4.01 (TPA 2018) was proclaimed and came into force.

You can find the TPA 2018 HERE.

All Plan Members will receive, in the mail, a letter from Paula McDonald, CEO of the Teachers’ Pension Plan Corporation (TPPC) addressing this proclamation. A copy of that letter can be viewed HERE.

These changes to the TPP do not change or impact the amount of pension accrual for active teachers or regular payment of pension to pensioners.

From your perspective as a plan member, the most significant outcome of the enactment of the new TPA 2018 is related to the administrative provisions for the TPP. As required under the JSA, those provisions have been removed from the legislation and are now included in the non-statutory Newfoundland and Labrador Teachers’ Pension Plan Text (the Plan Text). The Plan Text is now the official document governing the operations of the TPP and will enable the Corporation to effectively administer the plan on behalf of members.

The new Plan Text is available HERE.

Your member handbook has been updated to reflect any changes as a result of Plan Text and is available HERE.

Under previous administrative practices, if a plan member disagreed with a decision of the administrator with respect to a pension decision, their only option was to appeal that decision through the courts. The Corporation is committed to ensuring that plan members have a fair and efficient structure in place to address their issues regarding the administrative practices, policies and decisions of the Corporation. As a result, Section 18.5 of the Plan Text provides for the establishment of an Appeals Committee.

The Overview of Appeal Policy, Appeal Policy and related forms can be found on our “Forms & Resources” page HERE.