Feds handed out 4.3 million hours over Phoenix pay system woes

The government department in charge of managing labour relations with federal public servants distributed nearly 4.3 million compensation hours to workers affected by the problematic Phoenix pay system, according to data obtained by CBC news.

Stemming from a 2019 joint agreement between the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS) and various public service unions, current workers were granted up to five days of leave. If the employee no longer worked for the government, they were paid the cash equivalent.

The compensation hours amount to more than 179,000 days of leave.

Employees were eligible for two days of leave for the 2016 and 2017 fiscal years, and one day of leave between 2017 and 2020.

After filing a claim, they would have the days added into their annual leave bank. To receive the leave, an employee needed to have worked for at least one day of the year they applied for.

The most hours were handed out to the Canada Revenue Agency, Correctional Service Canada, Public Services and Procurement Canada and the Department of National Defence.

TBS stopped tracking the compensation hours on June 8, 2022, as “over 99 per cent” of the claims have been received.

A broken system

As a result of the Phoenix pay system, many federal employees went unpaid for long periods of time, were paid less than expected or were overpaid.

The compensation hours were meant to make up for the problems, which have plagued Canada’s public service since its launch in 2016.

The government’s work to replace the broken Phoenix pay system is underway, as the Canadian company Ceridian was selected in September 2021 to work on a replacement.

Budget 2023 includes $52 million for Shared Services Canada to work on that replacement for Phoenix, and for TBS to deal with human resources and pay matters.

For CAPE members, however, the damages are still ongoing.

“Marriages have collapsed, people have lost homes, not getting the proper pay is a huge burden,” said Camille Awada, the president of the Canadian Association of Professional Employees (CAPE).

CAPE has over 24,000 members across Canada and is Canada’s third largest federal public service union. Its members include economists, policy advisors, translators, terminologists and statisticians.

‘It’s the bare minimum’

Despite the 4.3 million hours distributed, Awada believes that it doesn’t make up for the hardships endured by union members.

“The compensation wasn’t enough at the time, and it’s definitely not enough now,” Awada said.

“I think people were basically relieved that the government had noticed the need for some sort of compensation for the issues that they had to face.”

Awada pointed out that the employees were only compensated up until 2020. Three years later, his workers are still feeling the impacts of the faulty system, and deserve further compensation.

“I think it’s the bare minimum,” he said. “The treasury board needs to step up and make sure that every public servant continues to compensated properly.”