Disability Retirement Benefits
14. (1) Upon application and with the approval of the president, a member shall be considered to be totally disabled on the date that a physician appointed by the Board certifies is the date that the member is wholly prevented due to mental or physical incapacity from performing the regular duties of the occupation in which he or she was engaged immediately before that date, and the disability shall be considered to continue if the member is so prevented during the first twenty-four-month period immediately after that date, and, thereafter, the disability shall be considered to continue if the member is wholly prevented from engaging in any occupation or performing any work for compensation or profit for which the president, on the advice of a physician appointed by the Board, considers the member is or may become reasonably qualified by education, training or experience. O. Reg. 775/91, s. 12 (1); O. Reg. 783/92, s. 2; O. Reg. 591/98, s. 7 (1). (1.1) Upon application and with the approval of the president, a member shall be considered to be totally disabled on the date that a physician appointed by the Board certifies is the date that the member began suffering from a physical or mental impairment which wholly prevents the member from engaging in any occupation or performing any work for compensation or profit for which the president, on the advice of a physician appointed by the Board, considers the member is or may become reasonably qualified by education, training or experience and which can reasonably be expected to last for the remainder of the member’s lifetime. O. Reg. 775/91, s. 12 (1); O. Reg. 783/92, s. 2; O. Reg. 591/98, s. 7 (2). (2) Despite subsections (1) and (1.1), total disability shall be considered not to exist, (a) during any period in which the member engages in any occupation for compensation or profit other than an occupation associated with a rehabilitation program approved by the president; or (b) where such total disability in respect of a member results from wilfully self-inflicted injury or the commission or attempted commission by the member of an indictable offence under the Criminal Code (Canada) or the engagement by the member in an unlawful occupation. O. Reg. 402/04, s. 3. (3) A member who is considered under subsection (1) to be totally disabled and who has not elected to receive a benefit under section 16 or 17, subsection 19 (1) or section 25 accrues credited service from the latest of, (a) January 1, 1978; (b) the first day of the fifth calendar month following the month in which the member is considered to be totally disabled; or (c) the day the member ceases to make contributions under section 10, until the earliest of, (d) the member’s normal retirement date; (e) the day, if any, on which the member subsequently elects to receive a benefit under section 16 or 17, subsection 19 (1) or section 25; or (f) the day on which the member dies. O. Reg. 591/98, s. 7 (3); O. Reg. 317/99, s. 3. (4) During the period of the accrual of a member’s credited service referred to in subsection (3), (a) the contributory earnings of the member shall be deemed to be the annual rate of contributory earnings for which contributions were last made by the member under section 10; and (b) for the purposes of any pension calculated in the manner prescribed in section 13, for any year of credited service accrual under subsection (3), the Year’s Maximum Pensionable Earnings as defined in the Canada Pension Plan shall be deemed to be equal to that of the year in which the member’s credited service accrual under subsection (3) began. R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 890, s. 14 (4). (5) Despite section 10, no member shall make contributions to the Fund in respect of contributory earnings under subsection (4) during the period of accrual of credited service under subsection (3). R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 890, s. 14 (5). (6) Whether or not a member who is accruing credited service under subsection (3) continues to have the status of an employee with respect to the employer, the member shall be deemed to be an employee of the employer for the purposes of this Regulation. R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 890, s. 14 (6). (7) Every member whose credited service accrual under subsection (3) began on or before December 1 of the year prior to an adjustment year and continues to January 1 of that adjustment year shall have, (a) his or her deemed annual rate of contributory earnings, referred to in clause (4) (a), increased by the inflation adjustment in the manner prescribed in subsection 21 (5) from the 1st day of January of the adjustment year; and (b) his or her deemed Year’s Maximum Pensionable Earnings referred to in clause (4) (b), from the 1st day of January of the adjustment year, increased to the lesser of, (i) the member’s deemed Year’s Maximum Pensionable Earnings increased by the inflation adjustment in the manner prescribed in subsection 21 (5), or (ii) the Year’s Maximum Pensionable Earnings, as defined in the Canada Pension Plan, for the adjustment year. R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 890, s. 14 (7); O. Reg. 591/98, s. 7 (4). (8) Despite subsections (4) and (7), if on December 1 of the year prior to an adjustment year a member is entitled to a disability benefit under subsection (3) and on January 1 of that adjustment year, (a) the member is entitled to a pension; (b) the member is entitled to a deferred pension; or (c) the member’s surviving spouse or children are entitled to a pension in respect of a deceased member, the pension referred to in clause (a), (b) or (c) shall be increased on the 1st day of January of the adjustment year by the inflation adjustment in the manner prescribed in subsection 21 (5) using the date the member became entitled to a disability benefit as the commencement date of the pension or deferred pension to be increased by the inflation adjustment. R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 890, s. 14 (8); O. Reg. 591/98, s. 7 (5); O. Reg. 75/00, s. 2; O. Reg. 340/05, s. 2 (1). (9) Despite subsections (4) and (7), if on December 1, 1997 a member was entitled to a disability benefit under subsection (3) and on January 1, 1998 continues to be so entitled, the member’s deemed annual rate of contributory earnings referred to in clause (4) (a) and deemed Year’s Maximum Pensionable Earnings referred to in clause (4) (b) shall be increased on January 1, 1998 by the 1997 inflation catch-up adjustment as defined in subsection 22 (2). O. Reg. 422/97, s. 2. (10) Despite subsections (9) and (12), a member’s deemed Year’s Maximum Pensionable Earnings shall not exceed, for any year, the actual Year’s Maximum Pensionable Earnings as defined in the Canada Pension Plan for that year. R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 890, s. 14 (10). (11) Despite subsections (4) and (7), if on December 1, 1997 a member was entitled to a disability benefit under subsection (3) and on January 1, 1998 the member is entitled to a pension or a deferred pension or the member’s surviving spouse or children are entitled to a pension in respect of the deceased member, the pension shall be increased on January 1, 1998 by the 1997 inflation catch-up adjustment, as defined in subsection 22 (2), using the date the member became entitled to a disability benefit as the commencement date of the pension or deferred pension to be increased by the inflation adjustment. O. Reg. 422/97, s. 2; O. Reg. 340/05, s. 2 (2). (12) Despite subsections (3) to (11), for the purposes of calculating a pension in the manner prescribed in section 13, for each year prior to 1988 a member’s deemed contributory earnings as described in clause (4) (a) and deemed Year’s Maximum Pensionable Earnings as described in clause (4) (b) shall be increased by the inflation adjustment defined in subsection 22 (2) with necessary modifications. R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 890, s. 14 (12). (13) A member who is considered under subsection (1.1) to be totally disabled and who is entitled to accrue credited service under subsection (3) may, instead of the accruing credited service under subsection (3), elect to receive a pension as follows: 1. The pension is to be calculated in the manner prescribed in section 13. 2. The pension begins on the later of the first day of the fifth calendar month following the month in which the member is considered totally disabled and the first day of the month following the month the member ceases to make contributions under section 10. 3. The pension continues to be payable until the member ceases to be considered totally disabled, unless it occurs after his or her normal retirement date, in which case the pension is payable for his or her life. O. Reg. 775/91, s. 12 (5). (14) Where a member has accrued a period of credited service under subsection (3) and subsequently elects to receive a pension under subsection (13), the pension shall commence on the first day of the month next following receipt of the member’s pension election in the Board’s offices. R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 890, s. 14 (14). (15) The accrual of credited service under subsection (3) ceases on the last day of the month preceding the month in which a pension commences under subsection (13). R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 890, s. 14 (15). (16) On the date a member ceases to be considered to be totally disabled the member shall be deemed to cease to be an employee of the member’s most recent employer. R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 890, s. 14 (16). (17) Every member who under this section is considered to be totally disabled shall, at the request of the president and at the expense of the Fund, submit from time to time to a medical examination by a physician appointed by the Board, but such an examination shall not be required more frequently than once a year and not after the normal retirement date of the member. R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 890, s. 14 (17); O. Reg. 783/92, s. 2; O. Reg. 591/98, s. 7 (6). (18) If a member fails within sixty days after a request therefor to submit to a medical examination in accordance with subsection (17) the member shall be deemed not to be totally disabled. R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 890, s. 14 (18). (19) Despite subsection (13), the amount of pension payable to a member in any month before his or her normal retirement date under this section, together with any amount of compensation payable to the member with respect to that month under the Workers’ Compensation Act, shall not exceed 85 per cent of the monthly rate of contributory earnings of the member on the last day the member received the normal rate of contributory earnings from his or her employer. R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 890, s. 14 (19). (20) For purposes of subsection (19), the amount of pension payable to a member shall exclude any adjustments made thereto under section 21 and any similar adjustments made to compensation payable to the member under the Workers’ Compensation Act. R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 890, s. 14 (20). (21) Despite subsections (3) and (13), if a member who was accruing credited service under subsection (3) or was receiving a pension under subsection (13) returns to work and ceases to accrue credited service under subsection (3) or to receive a pension under subsection (13) and within six months of returning to work again becomes disabled under subsection (1) or (1.1) as a result of the same mental or physical incapacity, as certified by a physician appointed by the Board, the member may immediately resume accruing credited service under subsection (3) or receiving a pension under subsection (13). O. Reg. 783/92, s. 7; O. Reg. 591/98, s. 7 (7). Pensions to Surviving Spouses or Children