Leaving your employer

If you have not yet reached your NRA and do not want to start an early retirement pension, your pension will stay in the OMERS Plan until you’re ready to retire. Unless you go back to work with an OMERS employer, you must start your pension by your NRA.

If you’ve reached your early retirement birthday by the date you stop working for your OMERS employer, you are eligible to begin receiving your pension.

Learn more about how your pension is calculated

If you are leaving your OMERS employer to work for another OMERS employer, you may be eligible to combine your OMERS memberships from your former and new employers if certain conditions are met.

Learn more about dual memberships

If your new non-OMERS employer has a registered pension plan, you may be able to transfer all, or part, of your OMERS credited service to your new employer’s plan.

Learn more about transferring service

If you have a small pension, you have the option to take the commuted value (CV) refund of your pension in cash, less tax or as a transfer to an RRSP. Your CV is the present-day value of a future pension benefit.

If you choose this option and later rejoin the Plan, you will have to wait five years from when you received your CV before you can buy back the associated service.

Learn more

*This is the year's maximum pensionable earnings (YMPE) for 2026. The small pension test is based on the YMPE in the year you leave employment. For example, in 2026, 4% of $74,600 is $2,984. This means that if you left employment with your OMERS employer in 2026, your annual pension must be less than this amount in order for you to be offered a cash refund.

You can keep your pension in the OMERS Plan where it will stay safe and secure until you choose to start receiving your retirement income. If you do not return to work with an OMERS employer, you will have the option to start your OMERS pension between your early retirement birthday and your NRA. Early retirement pensions are usually subject to a reduction but can also be unreduced.

As of January 1, 2013, benefit calculation changes affect you if you leave your OMERS employer before your early retirement birthday.

Learn more about reduced and unreduced pensions and benefit calculation changes

Your commuted value (CV) is the present-day value of a future pension benefit. This means it’s the estimated amount of money you would have to put aside today, to grow with tax-sheltered investment earnings, to provide you with a future benefit like the OMERS pension you’ve earned. You may choose to transfer your CV to a locked-in retirement savings vehicle such as a locked-in retirement account (LIRA) or for the purchase of an annuity from a licensed annuity provider.

Transferring your CV is a one-time option with an expiry date

If you do not select the CV option by the expiry date, this option will no longer be available to you, unless you have a small pension.

If you choose this option and later rejoin the Plan, you will have to wait five years from when you received your CV before you can buy back the associated service.

Learn more about buying service

How your CV is calculated

As required under the Ontario Pension Benefits Act, a CV is calculated using standards which are set by the Canadian Institute of Actuaries. These standards take into consideration factors including future interest and mortality rates, and inflation. These factors change over time, which is why the Actuarial Standards Board periodically makes changes to the standards to better reflect the current economic value of these benefits. A CV is not determined by investment returns on the pension plan’s assets.

Under the OMERS Plan terms, your CV cannot be less than your total required contributions plus interest (not including any refund of your excess contributions, Additional Voluntary Contributions or contributions made towards certain supplementary benefits).

Your CV reflects other Plan provisions, including survivor benefits, early retirement subsidies (where applicable) and inflation protection. For example, where full inflation protection is provided (i.e., for benefits earned before January 1, 2023), the CV calculation includes an assumption for what the full inflation rate will be in the future. Inflation protection that is not guaranteed is not included when determining CVs.

If you are leaving your OMERS employer to work for another OMERS employer, you may be eligible to combine your OMERS memberships from your former and new employers.

Learn more about dual memberships

If your new non-OMERS employer has a registered pension plan, you may be able to transfer all, or part, of your OMERS credited service to your new employer’s plan.

Learn more about transferring service

If you have a small pension, you have the option to take the commuted value (CV) refund of your pension in cash, less tax or as a transfer to an RRSP. Your CV is the present-day value of a future pension benefit.

If you choose this option and later rejoin the Plan, you will have to wait five years from when you received your CV before you can buy back the associated service.

Learn more

*This is the year's maximum pensionable earnings (YMPE) for 2026. The small pension test is based on the YMPE in the year you leave employment. For example, in 2026, 4% of $74,600 is $2,984. This means that if you left employment with your OMERS employer in 2026, your annual pension must be less than this amount in order for you to be offered a cash refund.