Public Service Superannuation Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. P-36)

Marginal note:To whom benefits paid

• 55 (1) Subject to section 58, benefits shall be paid as follows:

  • (a) where a deceased participant has, pursuant to any regulations made under subsection 61(1), named his estate as his beneficiary or named another beneficiary who may be named under those regulations and the beneficiary survives the participant, to the beneficiary; and

  • (b) in any other case, to the estate of the participant or, if less than one thousand dollars, as the Minister may direct.

• Marginal note:Transitional

  (2) Notwithstanding subsection (1), where, immediately prior to December 20, 1975, any benefit would, on the death of a participant, have become payable to his widow, the benefit shall remain payable, on his death, to his widow, unless

  • (a) she does not survive him;

  • (b) he names his estate as his beneficiary under any regulations made under paragraphs 61(1)(f) and (g); or

  • (c) he names another beneficiary under any regulations made under paragraphs 61(1)(f) and (g).

• Marginal note:Exception

  (2.1) If it is established to the satisfaction of the Minister when the participant dies that the beneficiary or widow cannot be found, the benefit shall be paid to the estate or succession of the participant or, if less than one thousand dollars, shall be paid as the Minister may direct.

• Marginal note:How benefits paid

  (3) Subject to any regulations made under paragraph 61(1)(h), a benefit shall be paid in a lump sum.

Public Service Death Benefit Account

Marginal note:Account in Consolidated Revenue Fund

• 56 (1) There shall be an account in the accounts of Canada to be known as the Public Service Death Benefit Account to which shall be credited the following:

  • (a) the amount of all contributions paid under section 53 by participants;

  • (b) the payments made by a Crown corporation or public board as required by the regulations;

  • (c) an amount equal to the amount estimated by the Minister to be sufficient to cover the cost of the benefits that will become chargeable against the Account but not less than the aggregate of

    • (i) one twelfth of the benefit paid in respect of each participant who, at the time of death, was employed in the public service, for which benefit contributions under this Part were payable by the participant at that time,

    • (ii) one twelfth of the benefit paid in respect of each elective participant who, on ceasing to be employed in the public service, was entitled under Part I to an immediate annuity or an annual allowance payable immediately, for which benefit contributions under this Part were payable by the participant at the time of death, and

    • (iii) the amount of the single premium determined under Schedule II in respect of each participant in the case of whom the basic benefit in the amount of ten thousand dollars referred to in paragraph (b) of the definition basic benefit in subsection 47(1), or the basic benefit in the amount of five hundred dollars referred to in paragraph (c) of that definition — or the basic benefit in the amount of five thousand dollars referred to in paragraph (d) of that definition — applies without contribution under this Part by the participant for it; and

  • (d) an amount representing interest on the balance from time to time to the credit of the Account, calculated in such manner and at such rates and credited at such times as the regulations provide.

  • (e) and (f) [Repealed, 1992, c. 46, s. 27]

• Marginal note:How benefits charged

  (2) Benefits shall be paid out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund and charged against the Public Service Death Benefit Account.

General

Marginal note:Elective participants

• 57 (1) There shall be issued to elective participants a document in such form as the regulations prescribe as evidence that they are participants under this Part.

• Marginal note:Idem

  (2) An elective participant ceases to be a participant if any contribution payable by him under this Part is not paid within thirty days after the due date thereof.

Marginal note:Benefits not assignable, etc.

58 Subject to Part II of the Garnishment, Attachment and Pension Diversion Act and to the Pension Benefits Division Act,

• (a) a benefit under this Part is not capable of being assigned, charged, anticipated or given as security and any transaction that purports to assign, charge, anticipate or give as security any such benefit is void; and

• (b) a benefit under this Part is exempt from attachment, seizure and execution, either at law or in equity.

Marginal note:Valuation and assets reports

• 59 (1) A valuation report and an assets report on the state of the Public Service Death Benefit Account shall be prepared, filed with the Minister and laid before Parliament in accordance with the Public Pensions Reporting Act and as if the supplementary death benefit plan established by this Part were a pension plan established under an Act referred to in subsection 3(1) of that Act.

• Marginal note:Review dates

  (2) For the purposes of subsection (1), the review date as of which an actuarial review of the Public Service Death Benefit Account must be conducted for the purposes of the first valuation report is December 31 in the year that is four years after the day on which this subsection comes into force and, thereafter, the review dates must not be more than three years apart.

Marginal note:Annual report

60 The Minister shall lay before Parliament each year a report on the administration of this Part during the preceding fiscal year, including a statement showing the amounts that during such year were credited to or charged against the Public Service Death Benefit Account.

Marginal note:Regulations

• 61 (1) The Governor in Council may make regulations for carrying the purposes and provisions of this Part into effect and, without restricting the generality of the foregoing, may make regulations

  • (a) prescribing the times as of which the reductions referred to in the definition “basic benefit” in subsection 47(1) shall be made;

  • (b) excluding any Crown corporation or public board from the operation of this Part;

  • (c) prescribing the manner and time of payment of contributions;

  • (d) prescribing the contributions to be made by elective participants and participants who are absent from duty and prescribing the conditions on which participants who are absent from duty may continue to be participants;

  • (e) respecting the manner and time of making elections under this Part;

  • (f) prescribing the manner and time of naming, changing or revoking beneficiaries under this Part;

  • (g) authorizing a contributor or a participant to name his estate as his beneficiary and prescribing classes of persons and organizations from which beneficiaries may be named for the purposes of this Part;

  • (h) authorizing payment, with the approval of the Minister, out of any benefit payable to the spouse, beneficiary or estate or succession of a deceased participant, of reasonable expenses incurred for the maintenance, medical care or burial of the participant;

  • (i) respecting the rates at which interest is to be credited to the Public Service Death Benefit Account under paragraph 56(1)(d), the manner in which it shall be calculated and the times at which it shall be credited to the Account;

  • (j) prescribing, for the purposes of the definition “salary” in subsection 47(1), the day on which a retroactive increase in pay shall be deemed to have commenced to have been received by a participant;

  • (k) prescribing the amount, time and manner of payments to be made by Crown corporations and public boards in respect of participants who are employed by those corporations or boards; and

  • (l) prescribing forms for the purposes of this Part.

• Marginal note:Application of Part I

  (2) Section 32, except subsection (1) thereof, section 33 and paragraphs 42(1)(o), (u), (w), (z), (aa), (bb), (ee) and (ff) apply to this Part with such modifications as the circumstances require.

Marginal note:Ineligibility

• 62 (1) Notwithstanding anything in this Part, the expression “participant” does not include

  • (a) a person employed in the public service on July 1, 1954, or

  • (b) a person who is a member of the regular force on July 1, 1954,

  if that person, on or before November 1, 1954, in such manner and form as the regulations prescribe, has elected not to come under this Part.

• Marginal note:Election irrevocable

  (2) An election made under this section is irrevocable.

• Marginal note:Application

  (3) Subsection (1) applies only to a person described therein who

  • (a) on August 14, 1956 was employed in the public service or was a member of the regular force and has thereafter continued to be so employed or to be such a member substantially without interruption; or

  • (b) on August 14, 1956 was not employed in the public service and was not a member of the regular force, but since the time when he last ceased to be so employed or to be such a member prior to August 14, 1956 he continued to be employed in the public service or to be a member of the regular force substantially without interruption.

• Marginal note:Election deemed valid

  (4) Where a person who

  • (a) was employed in the public service on July 1, 1954, and

  • (b) had not, before April 1, 1965, made any contributions under section 53

  made an election under subsection (1) in purported compliance therewith that was invalid by reason only that the person was not, on July 1, 1954, a participant within the meaning of this Part, that election shall be deemed to have been made validly under and in accordance with subsection (1).

Marginal note:Double payment avoided

63 Notwithstanding anything in this Part, no benefit is payable in respect of a deceased participant where ex gratia compensation in lieu of a benefit has been approved by the Governor in Council in respect of that deceased participant.

PART IIISupplementary Benefits

Marginal note:Definitions

64 In this Part,

contributor

contributor[Repealed, 1999, c. 34, s. 107]

pension

pension means any pension, annual allowance or annuity payable under Part I; (pension)

recipient

recipient means a person who is in receipt of a pension, but does not include a person who is in receipt of an immediate annuity or annual allowance under section 16 or 24.2 unless

• (a) that person has reached sixty years of age,

• (b) that person, if not having reached sixty years of age, is in receipt of that immediate annuity or annual allowance by reason of being disabled, or

• (c) that immediate annuity or annual allowance is based on a number of years of operational service, as defined in section 15 or 24.1, as the case may be, that is pensionable service and that pensionable service consists of not less than

  • (i) twenty-six years of pensionable service, in the case of a person who has reached fifty-nine years of age but has not reached sixty years of age,

  • (ii) twenty-seven years of pensionable service, in the case of a person who has reached fifty-eight years of age but has not reached fifty-nine years of age,

  • (iii) twenty-eight years of pensionable service, in the case of a person who has reached fifty-seven years of age but has not reached fifty-eight years of age,

  • (iv) twenty-nine years of pensionable service, in the case of a person who has reached fifty-six years of age but has not reached fifty-seven years of age, or

  • (v) thirty years of pensionable service, in the case of a person who has reached fifty-five years of age but has not reached fifty-six years of age. (prestataire)

65 [Repealed, 1999, c. 34, s. 108]

Marginal note:Contributions for elective service

• 66 (1) A person who elects, pursuant to section 6 or 39, to count as pensionable service any period of elective service specified in that section, or any portion of that service, that is after March 31, 1970 but before January 1, 2000 is required to contribute to the Superannuation Account or the Public Service Pension Fund in respect of it, in addition to any other amount required under this Act, an amount calculated in the manner and in respect of the salary described in those sections

  • (a) in the case of any period of elective service or portion of such a period that is after March 31, 1970 and before January 1, 1977, at the rate of one half of one per cent of the person’s salary; and

  • (b) in the case of any period of elective service or portion of such a period that is after December 31, 1976 and before January 1, 2000 at the rate of one per cent of the person’s salary.

• Marginal note:Manner of payment

  (2) Subsections 8(6) to (8) apply, with such modifications as the circumstances require, in respect of amounts required to be paid under subsection (1).

67 [Repealed, 1999, c. 34, s. 110]

Marginal note:Benefit payable

68 Subject to this Part, a supplementary benefit is payable to every recipient.

Marginal note:Calculation of benefit

• 69 (1) The supplementary benefit payable to a recipient for a month in any year shall be calculated with reference to the retirement year of the recipient and shall be equal to the amount of the supplementary retirement benefit that would be payable with respect to the recipient’s pension under section 4 of the Supplementary Retirement Benefits Act if that Act applied to the recipient.

• Marginal note:Exception for first year benefits received

  (2) The supplementary benefit payable to a recipient for a month in the year immediately following the recipient’s retirement year is equal to the product obtained by multiplying

  • (a) the amount of the supplementary benefit that would, but for this section, be payable to the recipient for that month

  by

  • (b) the ratio that the number of complete months that remained in the retirement year after the retirement month bears to twelve.

• Marginal note:Determination of retirement year or month

  (3) For the purposes of this section,

  • (a) the retirement year or retirement month of a person to or in respect of whom or in respect of whose service a pension is payable, other than a person referred to in paragraph (b), is the year or month, as the case may be, in which, for the purposes of this Act, that person most recently ceased to be employed in the public service; and

  • (b) the retirement year or retirement month of a person who is in receipt of a pension by virtue of being a survivor or a child, is the retirement year or retirement month, as the case may be, of the person in respect of whom or in respect of whose service the pension is payable.

• Marginal note:Deemed retirement year

  (4) For the purpose of subsection (3), when that subsection is applied in determining under subsection (2) the supplementary benefit payable to a person in respect of a pension payable pursuant to subsection 17(2) or section 24.2, that person is deemed to have ceased to be employed at the time the person ceased to be employed in operational service as defined in section 15 or 24.1, as the case may be.

• Marginal note:No decrease in amount of supplementary benefit

  (5) Notwithstanding subsection (1) but subject to section 70, the aggregate of the amount of the supplementary benefit and the amount of the pension that may be paid to a recipient for a month in any year shall not be less than the aggregate of the amount of the supplementary benefit and the amount of the pension that was or may be paid to that recipient for any month in the year next before that year.

• Marginal note:Minimum guaranteed amount

  (6) Despite subsections (1), (2) and (5) but subject to section 70, the amount of the supplementary benefit that may be paid for a month in any year to a recipient shall not be less than an amount equal to the difference obtained by subtracting the amount of the pension that may be paid to the recipient for that month in that year from the aggregate of the supplementary benefit and the maximum pension that would have been payable to that recipient for that month in that year, otherwise than pursuant to this section, if the retirement month of the retirement year of the recipient had been that month in such year as is determined by

  • (a) the Governor in Council, in the case of a person to or in respect of whom the pension is payable on ceasing to hold an office to which the person was appointed by the Governor in Council; or

  • (b) the Treasury Board, in the case of a person other than a person described in paragraph (a).