About your plan

Board of Trustees

The Board of Trustees of the Manitoba Home Care Employees Pension and Benefits Plans is responsible for the overall operation, administration and governance of the group pension and benefits plans. The Board of Trustees is comprised of the following individuals:

Chairperson
Samantha Probetts

Employee Trustees – nominated by the Manitoba Government and General Employees’ Union
- Sheila Gordon
- Jacquie Paton
- Doug Troke

Employer Trustees – nominated by the Regional Health Authorities:
- Brent Kreller
- Conne Newman
- Janet Wilcox-McKay

The following are the employers (Regional Health Authorities (RHAs)) that participate in the Pension and Benefits Plans:

Interlake-Eastern Regional Health Authority
Northern Regional Health Authority
Prairie Mountain Health
Southern Health- Santé Sud
Winnipeg Regional Health Authority

Pension

The Manitoba Home Care Employees Pension Plan (“Pension Plan”) has been established as a group pension plan for its eligible employees and eligible employees of participating employers to provide assistance in achieving financial security during your retirement years. A Board of Trustees is your Plan Administrator. As the Plan Administrator, the Board is responsible for the overall operations, administration and governance of the Pension Plan. The Board of Trustees is comprised of Employee Trustees who have been nominated by the Manitoba Government and General Employees’ Union (MGEU) and Employer Trustees who have been nominated by the Regional Health Authorities.

The Manitoba Home Care Employees Pension Plan was established on April 1, 1989 and is a multi-employer defined contribution plan.

The Pension Plan is a Defined Contribution pension plan. The provisions are governed by both the plan documents and government pension legislation. Your benefit upon retirement is your accumulated account balance (i.e. employer plus employee contributions accumulated with investment income).

Eligibility

All full-time employees are eligible to join the Pension Plan upon your date of hire and must join no later than the first day of the month on or after the completion of 2 years of continuous employment.

All other employees (casual or part-time) are eligible to join the Pension Plan upon your date of hire and must join no later than the first day of the month on or after the completion of 2 years of continuous employment provided you have earned at least 25% of the Year’s Maximum Pensionable Earnings (YMPE) in each of the 2 consecutive calendar years before joining the Pension Plan.

Contributions

Required:

You are required to contribute 4% of your gross regular earnings (overtime, bonus, and commissions are not included). The Employer will match your required contributions.

Voluntary:

You can transfer funds from another registered pension plan, retirement savings plan or deferred profit-sharing plan into the plan or you can contact your RHA to have voluntary contributions remitted via payroll deductions.

Withdrawals:

As an Active Plan member, you are not permitted to withdrawal required contributions. You are only permitted to withdrawal non locked-in employee voluntary contributions (applicable fees may apply).

Vesting and Locked-in

Your funds are immediately vested and locked-in.

Vesting means that you are entitled to the value of the contributions that your employer has made on your behalf and is determined by pension legislation.  The term “Locked-In” means that you are entitled to a deferred pension under the Pension Plan. Locked-In funds must be used to provide a retirement income and are not generally available as cash.

Life events

Retirement or Termination

At your retirement or termination of employment from your employer, you have the following options for your locked-in pension funds:

1. Leave your account balance (locked-in funds) in the Pension Plan until your retirement date. Early retirement is available at age 55 and normal retirement is at age 65; or
2. Transfer your account balance (locked-in funds) to a Locked-In Retirement Account (LIRA) at termination or to a Life Income Fund (LIF) at retirement. You will need to manage the investments either on your own or with an investment advisor where you may be exposed to investment and longevity risk depending on your investments; or
3. At retirement, you may receive a Variable Benefit (VB) payment from the Pension Plan. The Variable Benefit is similar to the LIF where you can determine your payments within a specific range based on legislation. The amount receive will be determined year-to-year and will change due to your account balance. Your monthly VB payments will come from the Pension Plan and you will not need to manage your investments.

There is no one correct choice. Your choice should reflect your unique personal financial circumstances.
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At your retirement or termination of employment from your employer, if you have non locked-in pension funds and/or member voluntary pension funds, you have the following options for your non locked-in pension funds:

1. Transfer your account balance (non locked-in funds) to a Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) at termination or to a Registered Retirement Income Fund (RRIF). You will need to manage the investments either on your own or with an investment advisor where you may be exposed to investment and longevity risk depending on your investments.
2. Receive a lump sum cash payment for your account balance (non locked-in funds). Income tax will be deducted from the lump sum cash payment.

Death

Upon your death, if you have a spouse/common-law partner and depending on their age, they would have the following options:

1. Leave the account balance (locked-in funds) in the Pension Plan until their retirement date. Early retirement is available at age 55 and normal retirement is at age 65; or
2. Transfer the account balance (locked-in funds) to a Locked-In Retirement Account (LIRA) prior to age 55 or to a Life Income Fund (LIF) when they are age 55 or over. Your spouse/common- law partner will need to manage the investments either on their own or with an investment advisor where they may be exposed to investment and longevity risk depending on their investments; or
3. At retirement age, they may receive a Variable Benefit (VB) payment from the Pension Plan. The Variable Benefit is similar to the LIF where your spouse/common-law partner can determine their payments within a specific range based on legislation. The amount received will be determined year-to-year and will change due to the account balance. The monthly VB payments will come from the Pension Plan and your spouse/common-law partner will not need to manage their investments.

Upon your death, if you have no spouse/common-law partner, your beneficiary or estate would have the following options:

1. Receive a lump sum cash payment of your account balance (locked-in and non-locked funds). Income tax will be deducted from the lump sum cash payment.

Investments

The investments of the Pension Plan are determined by the Board of Trustees with the assistance of their investment professionals.
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For more information on the Pension Plan provisions, please refer to your Member Pension Plan Booklet.