Your personal information is important

What is personal information?
Personal information is defined as information in any form or manner about an individual, whether or not recorded, that identifies the individual, can be manipulated to identify the individual, or can be linked to other information that identifies the individual.

Why does the OPSEU Pension Plan Trust Fund collect and use personal information?
OPTrust uses your personal information to determine and calculate your pension benefit. We need this information to make accurate calculations of your pension entitlements. We also need your personal contact information to be as up-to-date as possible so that we can contact you and also ensure that your survivor information is current. OPTrust needs to keep you informed about your pension and any changes that may affect you. For example, each year we send you an Annual Pension Statement and other communications which detail Plan provisions and provide other information that is important to you. We also let you know when there is an amendment to the Plan or about other important pension or tax legislation changes. This is why it is crucial that we maintain up-to-date information on our members and pensioners, including mailing addresses.

Guiding Principles of our privacy program
OPTrust carries out the privacy function based on the following principles:

  • Accountability: OPTrust acknowledges that it is responsible for personal information under its control.
  • Identifying Purposes: OPTrust identifies the purposes for which personal information is collected at or before the time the information is collected.
  • Obtaining consent: The consent of Plan members is required for the collection, use or disclosure of personal information (other than where disclosure is required by law). Consent (e.g., to use information for purposes of administering the Plan may be implied from a member’s enrollment in the Plan).
  • Limiting Collection: OPTrust limits the collection of personal information to that which is necessary for purposes identified by OPTrust. Personal information is collected by fair and lawful means.
  • Limiting Use, Disclosure and Retention: OPTrust does not use or disclose personal information for purposes other than those for which it is collected, except with the consent of the individual or as required by law. OPTrust retains personal information only as long as necessary for the fulfillment of those purposes, or as required by law.
  • Accuracy of Personal Information: OPTrust makes reasonable efforts to keep personal information as accurate, complete and up-to-date as is necessary to fulfil the purposes for which the information is to be used.
  • Security Safeguards: OPTrust protects personal information with security safeguards appropriate to the sensitivity of the information.
  • Openness Concerning Policies and Practices: OPTrust makes readily available specific information about its personal information management policies and practices to its members upon request. Questions or concerns of members will be addressed by OPTrust’s Privacy Officer.
  • Access to Personal Information: OPTrust informs members of the existence, use and disclosure of his or her personal information upon request, and gives the individual access to that information. A member or employee is given the opportunity to challenge the accuracy and completeness of their information and have it amended as appropriate.
  • Challenging Compliance. OPTrust investigates any privacy complaints or inquiries and has procedures in place for ensuring that each complaint is considered and processed in a timely manner.

We will keep you informed

Please be assured that the use, collection and disclosure of member and pensioner personal information will continue to be very important to OPTrust. We will continue to assess the impact of any business changes and ensure that our business practices meet or exceed the established standards. We will also keep you informed about any steps that we are taking in this regard. If you have any concerns or questions regarding OPTrust's privacy policies and procedures, please contact our Privacy Officer  at (416) 681-6161 or toll-free within Canada 1-800-906-7738 or by e-mail at privacy@optrust.com.

 

Website analytics

OPTrust uses a tool called “Google Analytics” to collect information about use of this site. Google Analytics employs cookies that are stored to your computer in order to facilitate an analysis of your use of the site. Google uses this information to analyze your use of our site, to compile reports for us on internet activity and to provide other services relating to our website and internet usage.

We use reports provided by Google Analytics to help us understand website traffic and webpage usage.

Google Analytics does not allow OPTrust or Google to identify individuals. How Google uses data when you use Google’s partners' sites or apps can be found here, or any other URL Google may provide from time to time.

By using this website, you consent to the processing of data about you by Google in the manner described in Google's Privacy Policy - external site and for the purposes set out above. You can opt out of Google Analytics if you disable or refuse the cookie, disable JavaScript, or use the opt-out service provided by Google - external site.

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