Returning to work after retirement

If you’re under 65 and you return to, or start working with, an employer who participates in the PSPP, you may need to rejoin the Plan. Please speak with your employer to learn about any rules that may apply to you. 

If you’re over 65 when you return to work, you have an option to either rejoin the Plan or not. If you rejoin the Plan, your pension payments will stop until you end your employment, or in December of the year you turn 71 if earlier.

When your pension payments resume, they will have been adjusted to take into account the additional pension credit and new average annual salary you earned while re-employed.

If your employer does not contribute to the PSPP, your PSPP pension will not be affected.

If you return to work for a PSPP employer and you don’t rejoin the Plan, there are limits on the amount you can be paid in any calendar quarter before your pension is affected. This is referred to as the quarterly re-employment earnings limit. Simply put, if your gross earnings in any calendar quarter exceed your quarterly re-employment earnings limit, you’ll need to repay a portion, or all, of your pension for the period to OPB. We refer to the amount you must repay as a “pension overpayment."

To see what your re-employment earnings limit amount is, revisit your Confirmation Statement that we sent you when you retired. Your employer is responsible for reporting your earnings for each calendar quarter. 

If you are hired on a fee-for-service basis, you are responsible for providing OPB with proof of your re-employment earnings (i.e., invoices and pay statements). 

Note: if you're a Justice of the Peace (JP), different rules apply to you. To find out more about your specific situation, please call us.

2025 updates to re-employment earnings rules

Effective July 1, 2025, the re-employment rules have changed for PSPP members turning age 71 this year and older who choose to work for a PSPP employer after they were required to terminate PSPP membership and start receiving their pension.

For those retired members, the quarterly re-employment earnings limit where retired members must pay back part of their pension if their earnings from a PSPP employer surpass a threshold (known as a pension “clawback”) no longer applies.

If you are turning 71 this year and required to terminate PSPP membership by the end of this year or in future years, your quarterly earnings limit will no longer apply with effect from December 1 of that year.

If you already turned 71 prior to 2025 and have been required to terminate PSPP membership in a prior year, your quarterly earnings limit will no longer apply with effect from July 1, 2025.

Note: this amendment does not alter the rules applicable to a Justice of the Peace (JP) or an Associate Judge.