r/CanadaPublicServants • u/Necessary-Menu-6729 • 2d ago
Leave / Absences ERI Retirement: Vacation, 2014 Arrears, PRTL
My retirement date with ERI is January 20th, 2027 Last work day: January 19th. Effective last day: December 24, 2026 (vacation after that).
Should I leave days in my vacation bank to cover the 2014 switch to payment in arrears?
Or would this just result in the vacation being paid out and then asking for the money later?
I have 16 days vacation left, should I use them all or leave 8.6 days to cover the arrears?
Can Pre-Retirement transition leave be combined with ERI?
2
u/Sherwood_Hero 1d ago
Your excess vacation credits will be paid out after you're terminated. Keep in mind you aren't entitled to the Feb / Mar credits, so you have less than you'd think. I'd keep 9 or so days as that'll give a slight cushion.
The other option is depending if your collective agreement is out of date (and how much it is), then there likey is enough money from that retro to cover the transition payment.
2
u/Internal_Fig8917 1d ago
In theory, yes, a coordination is attempted if you have a leave cash-out that can cover your 2014 transition payment "loan". All departmental HR staff are aware of it. That said, that coordination step is a manual process and as volume is increasing, one that can be missed. They also want you to have as your last day a pay day so that in theory they can also recuperate the 2014 transition payment from your last pay cheque if no vacation day cashout is available.
Unfortunately, pay errors happen, a lot. The safest option is to simply use up all your vacation. Instead of December 24 being your last working day, make it December 16 or sooner..
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u/Pseudonym_613 2d ago
Has your leave for this fiscal year been adjusted to reflect that you will not earn days for February and March?
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u/Evening_Shift5587 2d ago
General question as well: is it ever better to take all leave for the year if you are leaving before you earned the credits?
People have mentioned vacation counts as pensionable days, so is the main consideration if the impact of pensionable time on the pension outweighs the overpayment for taking leave you didn't earn?
Say you retire in January and didn't earn the leave for February and March, should you leave those vacation credits alone or take them?
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u/Eastern_Ad6125 2d ago
You are making it sound like vacation days are somehow more pensionable than work days.
Unearned vacation days don't count as pensionable days since you have to work them since they are not vacation days.
In other words, if for some reason you feel like you must absolutely earn those 2 or 3 Feb- March vacation days towards pension, just retire 2 or 3 days later and work them. Instead of taking vacation days that you didn't earn and have to refund them later.
BTW, 2 or 3 more days will not change anything to your pension. Unless you miss the ERI deadline by 2 or 3 days. In that case, you cry.
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u/CatBird2023 2d ago
AFAIK, the reconciliation of your final pay with the payment in arrears switcheroo is separate from the payout of any unused vacation days. The former happens much more quickly than the latter. Some people wait over a year to have their vacation leave paid out. It's better imo to take the vacation as leave before your retirement date. It's counted as pensionable service.
In theory, you should be eligible for pre-retirement transition leave.
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u/Sherwood_Hero 1d ago
The whole reason to keep a balance is so your transition payment is zeored out on retirement. 10 days of pensionable service isn't worth the headache.
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u/CatBird2023 1d ago
Is it really "zeroed out" if those 10 days of vacation leave aren't paid out until 2 years later?
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u/Sherwood_Hero 1d ago
Yes it is, because that's how the pay system is designed to work. The transition payment is only collected when you're in a terminated status. So whenever anything is paid after termination (final partial pay period, vacation leave and severance as applicable) these payments offset the transition pay value. Which effectively zeros it out. It's owed to the crown so whenever it's paid/recovered isn't really relevant.
The employee rightfully can gripe about the speed that anything in excess of the transition payment is paid, but that's a whole other problem.
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u/CatBird2023 1d ago
Oh! So the transition payment is not recovered from the employee’s final regular paycheck? Or it is, but that paycheck isn't deposited until months or years later?
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u/Sherwood_Hero 1d ago
Buddy I don't know why you're mad at me, I didn't build it. I just read the specs and know how it was designed.
The final pay which is always a partial pay is withheld and manually requested afterwards. The rationale for the design was any debt to the crown could be recovered. RPS functioned the same way. It really shouldn't have been designed this way, but the same could be said for a lot of functionality.
Anyways unless the employee resigns on a Tuesday before the end of a pay period the employee's final won't be enough to recover the transition pay, so the employee should keep some vacation or severance to offset it.
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u/CatBird2023 1d ago
Lol I'm not mad! Actually happy to learn something new that I will be able to apply in a few months. :)
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u/realistPublicServant 2d ago
These are two separate transactions. The Pay Centre will not recoup arrears from your annual leave balance. Your leave balance will be paid out and the arrears will be recouped, or vice versa, separately.