Federal government apologizes for irregular and missing pay
Problems with Phoenix payroll system affects 80,000 people across Canada, 250 across North
Jessica Davey-Quantick
Northern News Services
Wednesday, July 20, 2016
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The federal government is offering an apology to the many federal public servants across Canada and in the NWT who have been waiting months to be paid in full for the work they've done.
About half of all federal public servants in the North are affected by glitches in the government's new Phoenix pay system which has left some with irregular paycheques and others without pay at all, according to Jack Bourassa, regional executive vice-president for the Public Service Alliance of Canada.
On Monday, federal officials apologized to the more than 80,000 employees across Canada affected in a news conference shared on the department of Public Services and Procurement Facebook page. Bourassa estimates around half of the 500 federal employees across the North are affected.
According to Marie Lemay, deputy minister for Public Services and Procurement, about 720 public servants are missing paycheques. An additional 1,100 are missing payments for parental leave, long-term disability and severance. On top of that, more than 80,000 people have not been paid for supplementary or extra duties, pay adjustments or overtime.
"Most Canadians, if they are out of pocket a couple of paycheques, you're already hooped," said Bourassa. "Most Canadians are just paycheque to paycheque, so that really affects them."
This is particularly hard in the North, where the cost of living is inflated, he said. Many of the employees effected in the Yellowknife region are seasonal workers, hired for the summer - many of them students - who have gone weeks and even months without pay.
"They're relying on friends, or relying on family, and some of them they're just having to get on hands and knees to the banks and say can you hold off, this is not really our fault, as soon as this money comes in you'll be paid," said Bourassa. "That would be a humbling experience for sure, it must put them through one hell of a stressful time."
As the credit cards are maxed and the savings depleted, frustration is growing.
"They still want to be able to do the job and do a good job," said Bourassa. "But it's a question of mounting frustration and in some cases out and out anger."
Lemay said the government is "exploring options" to reimburse employees for penalties for missed loan payments, insufficient funds, late payment of tuition and other costs accrued as they wait for payment. In the meantime, employees are urged to report issues as soon as possible, and seek emergency salary payments from their department if needed. According to government sources, such payments could be processed in five days. Bourassa is skeptical however, saying in the past such payments have been inconsistent.
The Phoenix pay system was rolled out in February to replace the previous 40-year-old pay system, consolidating all pay services for over 300,000 public servants across the country. The first phase brought 34 federal departments onto the new system, with another 67 departments being added in April and the first fully-implemented Phoenix payday on May 4. There were problems almost from the beginning -despite, as Lemay pointed out in the news conference Monday, being tested with over 16,000 different pay scenarios before implementation.
"It is clear that we underestimated the amount of time it would take for all users to become trained and familiar with the system," said Lemay.
But the government's explanations don't hold water with Bourassa.
"It's not the people who are doing the work, it's the program," he said. "There's something in there that is not working."
The pay services were consolidated in a pay centre in Miramichi, N.B., with many of the 550 employees being shuffled around after other departments closed. Before the consolidation, departments managed payroll themselves with around 2,500 compensation advisers. Today, there are 790 in-house pay advisers remaining in departments, in addition to the staff at Miramichi. Bourassa says they're "way understaffed."
"A number that was thrown at me was something like three times the number of people they have there," he said.
In the interim, more staff have been added at the Mirimachi pay centre, and a temporary unit has been set up in Gatineau, Que. to address complaints.
"This situation is completely unacceptable and we will be working around the clock to resolve these problems as quickly as possible," said Lemay.
Phoenix will receive some "technical enhancements" and the Auditor General of Canada has been asked to review the implementation of the system. For now, Phoenix will remain online.
"We have a lot of work to do to get the pay system moving as intended, and we will do what is necessary to get it done," stayed Lemay.
What might be necessary, said Bourassa, is to shoot down Phoenix.
"I think there's an alternative. Maybe getting rid of it might be premature, but they need definitely to get people on board to look through the program itself to try to find out where it is," said Bourassa, adding people in the North just need to get paid.
"They'd like to know that the problem is going to be fixed, when can it be fixed, and when can we expect to get our money. That would be big."
