City : Burnaby

Category : Health Insurance

Industry : Insurance

Employer : Pacific Blue Cross

Job Summary

Under the general supervision of the Team Leader, provides complex technical analysis and pension estimating services for members of D.A. Townley-administered pension plans on request or upon member retirement, termination or death including calculating pension benefits, options and alternatives for member consideration, preparing pension estimates and custodian instructions, distributing estimates to members following peer review and responding directly to member inquiries. Conducts peer review of calculations performed by other team members. Executes a variety of annual or special pension administration projects such as determining eligibility for transfer deficiency payments, contributions reciprocity, pension adjustments or reversals for RSP purposes and year end pension reconciliations for selected plans.

Job Duties

Pension Estimates

1. Provides complex technical analysis and pension estimating services for members of D.A. Townley - administered pension plans on request, or upon member retirement, termination or death by:

a. receiving, reviewing and analyzing a diverse range of confidential and sensitive information relating to member and plan history such as marital circumstances, historical changes in pension regulations, plan amendments made during the life of the plan, the existence of cost certificates, accrued contributions, funds under management, member retirement philosophies and preferences, present versus future value, mortality tables and other information provided by actuarial specialists;

b. identifying various factors affecting pension estimates such as interest rate, pension accrual rate or early retirement reduction rate;

c. calculating pension benefits, options and alternatives for member consideration including those with tax and retirement income planning vehicles such as locked in RSPs, LIFs, RRIFs, Canada Pension Plan and Old Age Security benefits;

d. determining commuted value for defined benefit/target benefit pension plans through the application of actuarial factors and accrued interest for other plan types including defined contribution plans;

e. matching previously-calculated estimates to current scenarios and updating calculations to reflect changes in circumstances and valuations;

f. receiving notices from the estates or beneficiaries of deceased members, advising custodians to cease retirement benefits, and calculating pre-retirement death benefits depending on beneficiary and spousal status

g. preparing pension estimate templates and statements following completion of calculations and submitting to colleagues and/or actuaries for peer review;

h. updating, adjusting and/or correcting documentation following peer review and distributing estimates to members;

i. preparing custodian instructions, making closing entries and updating a variety of manual and automated system information to reflect current member status;

j. responding to member inquiries directly, explaining how calculations were conducted and clarifying available options.

2. Conducts peer reviews of calculations performed by team members to ensure calculations meet the test of reasonableness and accompanying documentation is accurate and follows established rules and guidelines.

Special Projects

3. Determines eligibility on an annual basis for members qualifying for transfer deficiency payments for the funded portion of selected pension plans. Prepares and distributes information packages. Responds to payment requests by calculating payment amounts based on the funded portion plus interest.

4. Calculates pension adjustment (PA)/pension adjustment reversal (PAR) amounts to determine RSP headroom left after annual contributions made by employees and reports amounts to plan custodians for T4 production purposes.

5. Prepares year end pension reconciliations for selected plans and generates contributor statements of status and amounts paid into the plan.

6. Calculates annual cost of living adjustments for pensioners of affected pension plans and forwards required adjustments to the plan custodian for action.

General Team and Department Support

7. Using the advanced features of Excel including nested functions, IF statements, lookups, pivot tables, named ranges and filters, updates existing spreadsheets used to prepare a variety of reconciliations, refund listings, mail merges and text conversions to other formats. Using the intermediate features of Word including character and paragraph formatting, footers/headers, clip art and page borders, updates pension plan documentation for inclusion in pension estimate packages for members.

8. May perform selected duties of the Pension Billings Administrator including processing disbursements and preparing letters of notice for pension plan contributors approaching age 71.

9. Maintains up to date knowledge of pension rules, policies, procedures, and best practices, system requirements, terminology and other information related to the provision of pension administration services through continuous learning initiatives.

10. Performs other assigned duties related to the provision of pension administration services and/or administrative support which do not affect the rating of the job.

Qualifications:

▪ High school graduation or equivalent Pension Calculations Specialist

▪ Completion of The Canadian Pension and Benefits Institute Pension Plan Administration Certificate Level 1 (Introduction to Pension Plans 36 hours) and Pension Plan Administration Certificate Level 2 (Legislation and Pension Plans 36 hours) through Humber College OR EQUIVALENT

▪ Completion of an Intermediate Word course (18 hours)

▪ Completion of an Advanced Excel course (36 hours) ▪ Demonstrated proficiency in the use of intermediate Word and Advanced Excel

▪ A minimum of two years previous related experience in an actuarial or pension administration environment where analyzing and producing complex pension estimates was a primary role

▪ Demonstrated mathematical skills ▪ Demonstrated critical thinking skills gained through the successful application of problem solving methods such as problem analysis, logic and judgment

If you’re excited about taking on this opportunity, we invite you to apply today and start the conversation with us about this position.

Together we can create a healthier British Columbia through teamwork, exceptional service and accountability that will help improve sustainable healthcare.

Please apply via our website this week at http://www.pbchbs.com/company/careers/

While we thank all applicants for their interest, only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

We strive to create a workplace where everyone feels valued and employees feel empowered to freely participate and contribute regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion, ability, education level, parental status, or socioeconomic status. PBC is an equal opportunity employer and welcomes applications from all qualified candidates.

To request an accommodation in completing this application, pre-employment testing, interviewing or otherwise participating in the employee selection process, please direct your inquiries to careers@pac.bluecross.ca