Officers allege pension managers denied them full benefits after moving from municipal to provincial roles
Nearly 40 Ontario police officers are seeking $3m each in a lawsuit that alleges they were denied full retirement benefits after transferring from municipal police forces to the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP).
According to a report by The Logic, the officers claim that the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS) failed to transfer the full value of their pensions to the Public Sector Pension Plan (PSPP), leaving them without the additional benefits they say they are owed.
At the heart of the dispute is the officers’ assertion that OMERS and PSPP administrators breached contract, fiduciary duties, and pension-plan rules by denying them the full value of their pensions.
The plaintiffs allege that when they moved to the OPP, the value of their OMERS pensions exceeded the amount that PSPP allows for transfer—a limit set by the Income Tax Act.
They argue they should have been offered a choice between a lump-sum payout or transferring the excess value into a locked-in retirement account, to be held and invested until retirement.
According to the officers, this choice was not provided.
The legal action, filed in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Barrie, names OMERS, the Ontario Pension Board (which manages the PSPP), the financial institutions serving as custodians for both pension plans, and 13 municipal police services, including those in Toronto, Hamilton, Barrie, Thunder Bay, and Windsor.
This lawsuit, filed in August, follows similar allegations brought by six OPP officers in May.
The officers’ lawyer, Sherilyn Pickering of Kahler Law, says her firm has heard from more than 100 police officers with similar complaints about their pension transfers and is preparing to file another large claim. “We’re being contacted by officers almost daily about this issue,” she said.
The timing of the suit coincides with a years-long recruitment drive by the OPP.
In August 2020, Ontario’s government announced $25m in funding to hire 200 new OPP officers, part of a broader effort to address staffing shortages and implement recommendations from an independent review panel on workplace culture.
The plaintiffs in this case all joined the OPP between 2022 and 2024, leaving municipal roles for provincial positions during this hiring spree.
Spokespeople for OMERS and the Ontario Pension Board have rejected the allegations.
Don Peat at OMERS stated that the pension manager has notified the officers’ lawyers of its position and intends to “vigorously defend” against the claims.
“OMERS is committed to fulfilling our obligations to our members and provides all options to members when they terminate employment and change jobs in accordance with legislative requirements,” said Peat.
OPB spokesperson Michael Lockhart said the fund manager has also told the plaintiffs’ lawyers it objects to their claims. “We are confident that the proper process was followed in the transfer of these pensions to PSPP,” he said.
The OPP declined to comment, citing the ongoing court proceedings.
None of the defendants have filed responses to the allegations, and none of the claims have been tested in court.
The case comes at a sensitive time for OMERS, which manages more than $140 billion in assets for 640,000 working and retired municipal employees.
The Ontario government launched a governance review of OMERS last year—the first in over a decade—after members raised concerns about transparency and communication.
The review is examining OMERS’s dual-board structure: the Sponsors Corporation Board, which sets contribution rates and plan design, and the Administration Corporation Board, which manages investments and operations.
Employer groups and member associations have criticized OMERS’s governance as opaque, especially after contribution rates for those earning more than $90,000—about 30 per cent of members, including many police officers and firefighters—were set to rise in 2027.
