Part-Time or Casual?
Over your career, you might find that your schedule changes, your number of hours vary, or you may even be working a few positions at the same time. We are here to help you understand what all of that means to your LAPP pension.
If you work part‐time for a LAPP employer, you might be wondering the following:
- How part-time or casual work might affect your future pension
- What you need to know about becoming a member of LAPP
- How to grow your future LAPP pension
Can I Be a Member in LAPP?
The rules for whether you can participate in LAPP are based on your regularly-scheduled hours of work.
| Hours Worked | Participation in LAPP |
|---|---|
| 30 hours per week (1560 hours per year) or more under one employer in a continuous position | You are automatically a LAPP member. Membership is mandatory. |
| 30 hours per week (1560 hours per year) or more under one employer in a non-continuous position 14 hours per week (728 hours per year) or more, but less than 30 hours under one employer in a continuous position |
Membership in LAPP is set by your employer's policy. Please ask your employer's pay & benefits representative for more information. |
| Less than 14 hours per week under one employer | You are not able to be a member of LAPP. |
All the contracts you have with one LAPP employer are counted together to see if you have to participate or have the option to participate in LAPP. That overall number of hours is considered when your employer determines if you can be a member in the Plan and the amount of service you earn under the Plan. If you work for more than one LAPP employer, then your employment status is decided by each of those employers independently.
Pensionable Service
As an active member who works for a LAPP employer, you earn what is called pensionable service under the Plan. As a whole, pensionable service is made up of the number of years you contribute to the pension plan plus any service you have transferred into LAPP or prior service you have purchased. This service is used to calculate what your monthly pension benefit will be. The most pensionable service you can have in a single calendar year is one year, even if you work more than one position with any LAPP employer.
If you participate in LAPP, all the contracts you have with one LAPP employer, including any hours you work in a casual position, are counted together to make up your pensionable service.
How Do Casual Shifts Affect My Pensionable Service?
If you are already a LAPP member and pick up casual shifts with your regular employer, that service can be added to the service from your regularly scheduled work to increase your LAPP pension benefit. This can be done as long as the casual shifts are not overtime.
Am I Considered Part-Time or Full-Time for Pension Purposes?Whether you are considered full-time or part-time depends on the number of hours you work compared to what your employer has set as the regular full-time hours for the same position.
Any full time position is equal to one year of pensionable service.
For members who work part-time, pensionable service is calculated based on the hours worked in that year (ignoring anything that is considered overtime), divided by the regular full-time hours for that position.
How is My Part-Time Pensionable Service Calculated?
For example:
- If someone worked in a 0.5 part-time position, after 4 years of work that person would have 2 years of pensionable service.
- Meanwhile, someone working full-time would have 4 years of pensionable service.
How Are My Contributions Calculated?
Contributions to LAPP are based on a percentage of your pensionable salary and are made through payroll deductions.
Both members and employers make contributions to LAPP, and yours are tax deductible. Contribution rates are adjusted from time-to-time to keep up with the cost of providing future pensions. More information on how LAPP is funded is available under Your Pension Is Secure.
I'd like more information about my pension contributions.
I work part-time and would like more information on how my pension is calculated.
Frequently Asked Questions
I work full-time but want to change to part-time. If I stop working full-time hours, how will that affect my pension?
Your employer's policy will decide if you can still be a member of the Plan if you switch from full-time to part-time hours. If you are allowed to keep participating in LAPP, you can read more above about how being part-time will affect your pension.
How do I know if my employer is a part of LAPP?
Pensionable Salary
The pension calculation is based on the salary of a full-time employee. For example, let us say your highest average salary in a part-time (0.5) position is $30,000. If you had worked full-time over the same period, your average salary would have been twice as much, $60,000 per year. We use this full-year figure and not your actual salary when calculating your pension. This is what we call your annualized salary.
How is My Pensionable Salary Calculated if I Work Part-Time?
You can figure out your own annualized salary by dividing your annual earnings by your full-time equivalency or FTE.
For example, if you earned an average of $45,000 per year in a 0.6 position:
$45,000 (Yearly Part-Time Salary)
÷ 0.6 (FTE)
= $75,000 (Annualized Salary)
Your pension calculation will use a salary figure of $75,000, which is the same amount as a full-time worker in the same position.
I'd like more information on how my pension is calculated if I work part-time.
Probationary Service
Your employer might have a pension policy that will delay your entry into the Plan for a period of probationary service.
This period can be up to one year, though it will be reduced by any:
- previous employment you had with the same LAPP employer, and
- previous service you had with another LAPP employer that occurred immediately prior to your service with your LAPP employer.
If you qualify to transfer a pension benefit into LAPP from another registered pension plan, you will not serve a period of probationary service before joining LAPP.
If you join the Plan after a period of probationary service, you’ll still have the chance to add that year to your overall service through a process called a buyback. Adding to your service this way will increase the pension you receive at retirement.
Working Casual Shifts
If you are already a LAPP member and pick up casual shifts with your regular employer, that service can be added to the service from your regularly scheduled work to increase your LAPP pension benefit. This can be done as long as the casual shifts are not overtime.