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FSNA members and federal retirees in general, face many issues relating to their retirement benefits. The link below provides some insight into the areas of concern identified by FSNA and our commitment to have these issues addressed. Issues facing FSNA members Surviving Spouse Benefits Survivor benefits are paid to the spouse of a pensioner if they were married (or in a common-law relationship) : • Before the Public Servants (PS) or Judges pensioner retired or • Before the Canadian Forces (CF) or RCMP pensioner turned age 60 Prior to Bill C-55 (1992) there was no provision for benefits for survivors of post-retirement marriages. Bill C-55 permitted retirees to purchase a limited survivor pension for the Marriage After Retirement (MAR) spouse at the cost of a significant reduction in the retiree's actual pension. FSNA considers that the MAR survivor benefit should be provided in full with no reduction in the retiree's pension. FSNA continues to advocate for the following improvements: • Full survivor benefits for post-retirement or post age 60 marriages without any reduction in the pension of the retiree Note: It is important to be aware that where no survivor benefit exists, the surviving spouse is not deemed a pensioner and therefore loses all entitlement to both the PSHCP and the PDSP coverage. Supplementary Death Benefit (SDB) In 1999, Parliament passed Bill C-78 - an Act, which established the Public Sector Pension Investment Board and amended the PS, CF and RCMP Superannuation Acts. One highlight of this bill dealt with the Supplementary Death Benefit (SDB) for PS members only. As of September 13, 1999, the Act increased the paid-up PS SDB amount to $10,000 for all PS pensioners who were previously covered by the $5,000 paid-up SDB coverage. In addition, the act also delayed the start of the annual 10% reduction of the initial SDB amount from the time that the pensioner reaches age 61 to start at age 66 for PS members only. These changes did not apply to the SDB for CF pensioners. With reference to the SDB for CF pensioners, the paid-up amount remains $5,000 and the decrease of the initial SDB amount starts at age 61. Although there were no changes made to the SDB for CF pensioners, the Act now stipulates that changes to the SDB for CF pensioners can now be made by regulation rather than through a new Act of Parliament. FSNA continue to advocate for the following improvements to the SDB for CF members: • To delay the age at which the 10% annual reduction of SDB is applied to the initial SDB amount at retirement (2 times salary) from age 61 to age 66 • To increase the SDB paid-up amount $5,000 to $10,000 |
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