your merged plan
February 8, 2022
The assets have transferred from the Sanofi Pasteur Limited Pension Plan for Bargaining Employees (Registration Number: 0491316) (“SP Bargaining Pension Plan”) to the CAAT Pension Plan. The Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) provided consent to the transfer of assets from the SP Bargaining Pension Plan to the CAAT Pension Plan. The assets, totaling almost $246 million, were transferred to CAAT on February 8, 2022.
With the transfer of assets, the CAAT Pension Plan assumes responsibility for all defined benefit pension payments to retired members of the SP Bargaining Pension Plan.
SP Bargaining Pension Plan members can expect to receive a communication with further details about their pension now that the assets have transferred. Should you have any questions, please email info@dbplus.ca.
On March 10, 2021, an overwhelming 99% of the Sanofi Pasteur plan members voted in favour of merging with the CAAT Pension Plan. Members of the SP Bargaining Pension Plan started contributing to, and earning, a pension under CAAT’s DBplus plan design effective April 1, 2021.
CAAT filed applications with FSRA for its consent to the transfer of assets from the SP Bargaining Pension Plan to the CAAT Pension Plan.
On January 4, 2022, FSRA provided consent to transfer the assets from the SP Bargaining Pension Plan to the CAAT Pension Plan and the SP Bargaining Pension Plan members were notified that their past pension benefits will be transferred to and replicated in the CAAT Pension Plan.
The pension earned under DBplus is directly linked to the total contributions made to the CAAT Pension Plan by the member and the employer: the more contributed, the higher the pension.
Starting April 1, 2021, you will contribute 3% of your Earnings to the CAAT Pension Plan. This amount will increase by 1% annually until January 1, 2023.
Thereafter, member contributions will be fixed at 5% of their Earnings. The employer will not only match those contributions, dollar for dollar, but will make additional contributions for a total contribution rate (i.e., by the member and the employer) of 18%.
If you were a member of the SP Bargaining Pension Plan prior to April 1, 2021, the contribution rate is being phased-in over a period of three years. Once the pension regulator approves the merger, assets will be transferred from the SP Bargaining Pension Plan to the CAAT Pension Plan (this typically occurs about eight months after the effective date1).
Once assets are transferred, a portion will be used to temporarily reduce member’s and Sanofi Pasteur Limited’s contribution rate as follows: by 3% of member’s Earnings for a period of 84 months starting January 1, 20232, 2% for the following 12 months, and 1% for the last 3 months of the reduction period. Even though Members are contributing a lower percentage during this period, the pension benefit they will earn will be calculated as if both member and Sanofi Pasteur Limited contributed a total of 18% of the Earnings.
After the 99-month contribution reduction period is over, the contributions will return to the rate of 5% of member’s Earnings, and Sanofi Pasteur Limited’s contribution rate will return to 13%.
This table lists members' and Sanofi Pasteur Limited’s contribution rates during the contribution reduction period:
1The asset transfer is dependent on multiple factors, including the pension regulator providing its approval, so eight months is an estimate only. CAAT Pension Plan will notify you when the asset transfer occurs.
2If assets are transferred after January 1, 2023, these contribution reductions will begin either on the first day of the month after the asset transfer date or any other date within the immediately following three months of an agreed upon date between the CAAT Pension Plan and the SP Bargaining Pension Plan.
Sanofi Pasteur member services at the CAAT Pension Plan 120 Bremner Boulevard, Suite 800 Toronto, ON M5J 0A8 Toll Free: 1.855.326.9771 Local: 416.619.9738 Email: caat.sanofi@mercer.com
If you have prior pension benefits from Sanofi Pasteur Limited, your total annual pension will be the sum of two parts:
The SP Bargaining Pension Plan pension + DBplus pension = Total annual pension payable from the CAAT Pension Plan
Inflation protection increases are made to pensions in pay when the CAAT Pension Plan is over 100% funded. This is called conditional inflation protection. Such annual increases are 75% of the change in the annual percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index (“CPI”) and are capped at 8% with a carry forward provision (i.e., in years when inflation is high, any amount above 8% would be carried forward and applied to inflation protection in the following years). Conditional increases are effective each January 1, based on the CAAT Pension Plan’s funded status.
Once the merger is approved and the DB assets of the SP Bargaining Pension Plan are transferred to the CAAT Pension Plan, indexation based on CAAT’s indexation formula will be applied to your pension.
Starting January 2022 your DBplus pension receives enhancements based on the Average Industrial Wage (“AIW”). These enhancements are applied at the start of each year you contribute to the Plan (subject to the CAAT Pension Plan Funding Policy).
In addition to AIW enhancements on your DBplus pension, effective January 1, 2023, guaranteed AIW enhancements will also be applied annually to the pension benefit credited to you under the SP Bargaining Pension Plan while you are employed by Sanofi Pasteur Limited. If in any year these enhancements exceed the maximum allowable increase under the ITA, the difference will be carried forward to the next year or any subsequent year when it will be permitted.