Newly ratified contracts amplify Phoenix pay system problems

OTTAWA — When Ann Speers retired from her federal government job more than a year ago, she noticed something wrong with her bank account; she had been overpaid on her final paycheque.

Several months and countless emails and phone calls later, the 56-year-old Toronto resident thought the problem had been resolved.

But Speers, along with tens of thousands of other current and former civil servants, found out last week that their problems with the Phoenix pay system are far from over as the department that oversees the system grapples with an acute staff shortage.

Public Services and Procurement Canada revealed Monday that its backlog of problem pay files grew by 9,000 in August from the previous month. It blamed the increase on the recent ratification of several large civil service contracts. And it suggested the backlog may grow even bigger before winter sets in.

The department said it was mandated by legislation to re-calculate the pay rates of government employees covered by the new contracts, adjust their paycheques accordingly and issue any retroactive pay owed to current and former staff within a certain time frame. So it diverted pay system employees who were dealing with the ongoing Phoenix pay problems to making the contract pay adjustments instead.

HERE'S WHAT TO KNOW

Summer pool hours extended and discounts applied as Big Marble Go Centre upgrades start

Apr 18, 2024

Medicine Hat company drawing in clients with witty signage

Apr 16, 2024

Medicine Hat College holding event for missing and murdered Indigenous women awareness day

Apr 16, 2024

That diversion only served to highlight a lack of manpower in the system as regular pay changes to 237,000 files fell behind.

The government has since reached agreements with several civil service unions to attract and retain compensation advisers. By doing so, the government acknowledged that it doesn’t have enough people to fix the system any time soon, said Robyn Benson, national president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada.

“Although the government has tried to bring back former compensation staff, the pay centre in Miramichi and the satellite pay offices remain understaffed,” she said in a statement.

“We hope that these measures will bring in more compensation staff so that Phoenix-related problems are addressed more efficiently. All federal public service workers deserve to be paid on time and correctly.”

For Speers, the debacle has been a source of endless frustration.

When she retired on May 28, 2016 from the former Industry Canada after 32 years of service, she discovered that she was overpaid on her final paycheque. Then in December, the government deposited what Speers called “a random amount” in her bank account.

For months she tried, unsuccessfully, to give the money back.

“It took until January to even hear from them, despite trying to get it sorted,” said the soft-spoken woman.

She then received two different calculations as to how much of the December amount was an overpayment.

“Every time I spoke with someone between January and April — or more by email because you can’t talk to them — I was quoted a different amount (that was owing),” Speers said.

She finally got what she thought was the final amount, which was later confirmed it writing, and sent a cheque with the phrase “In full and final satisfaction of all overpayments” written on it. The government cashed the cheque.

Fast forward to Monday, Aug. 28, when Speers called the pay office about the retroactive pay she was expecting to receive as a result of the newly ratified, back-dated civil service contracts.

“Turns out that they still think I owe them money,” said Speers, who said the government is now withholding her retroactive pay, despite providing her no records to back up the new claim that she still owed $2,000, nor any accounting of what the government was supposed to owe her in retro pay.

Speers said she expected the problems to haunt her well into next year, particularly as the pay changes affect the amount of pension she collects.

“It’s just never-ending,” she said.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau applauded pay system employees in Miramichi, N.B., this week for working creatively to help civil servants affected by the pay problems.

When the previous Conservative government adopted Phoenix, the goal was to streamline the pay system — and save taxpayers about $70-million a year. But that plan quickly unravelled as more than 80,000 civil servants reported being underpaid, overpaid or not paid at all.

Ottawa has since earmarked around $400 million over two years to address problems emerging from the program.

Follow @tpedwell on Twitter

Terry Pedwell, The Canadian Press