He will have to remortgage his house due to the Phoenix pay system fiasco

“I’m going to have to remortgage,” confides in a calm voice to the Newspaper Héryk Julien, who is fighting like a devil in holy water against the Phénix pay system, which has been ruining the lives of civil servants like him for almost eight years.

“We are victims in this, and we are treated as if we had stolen money. They are the ones who put me in financial trouble,” sighs to Newspaper the Natural Resources Canada research professional in the Quebec region.

It was in 2016 that Héryk Julien’s ordeal began.

At the time, he bought a house. His son has just been born. He takes his paternity leave and extends his work break by deciding to spread out his pay to spend more time with him.

But Phoenix doesn’t like it, and loses control.

When he returns to work, after his days off, we forget to pay him for a month and a half. Subsequently, pay errors follow one another and become so frequent that his life takes the form of an eternal fight against the federal apparatus.

“I made dozens and dozens of posts to tell them that this was not normal, but there was never any follow-up,” maintains Héryk Julien.

• Listen to the interview with Francis Halin, journalist on the case, on Richard Martineau’s show via QUB :

Backed against the wall

Today, these years of pay errors have him back against the wall. He is being asked to repay more than $25,000, an amount he simply does not have.

“I received a registered letter a week before Easter last year. They gave me a week,” laments the official.

At the Government Services Union, stories like this are far from rare.

“As a civil servant, I know that any event risks producing a pay error, so we do not dare change our address or modify our insurance. People are even hesitant now to accept a promotion,” goes so far as to say Newspaper National President, Bruce Roy.

“I find this very depressing. It’s a basic agreement: “I work. You pay me,” he whispers.

At the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), Quebec, its regional executive vice-president, Kevin Piton, sees clearly that Phénix “still hurts a lot.”

“Since 2018, it’s been a total mess. It’s no longer rare to open pools and see people applying for positions,” he observes.

“If Justin Trudeau wants to have the most competent civil servants, we must give them winning conditions, we have good ones, but we are losing good people due to pay problems,” he regrets.

PSPC defends itself

How many Quebecers are experiencing the same waking nightmare as Héryk Julien? Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) knows nothing about it, because the data from the Phoenix system “does not specify the geographic region or the province,” they retort.

“Employees deserve to be paid correctly and on time, and such situations are unacceptable,” assures SPAC spokesperson Jeremy Link, without getting involved in the case of Héryk Julien.

“The Government of Canada has implemented numerous measures, including flexible reimbursement options for certain overpayments, to support employees who are facing pay problems,” he adds.

Justin Trudeau affected?

Last May, The newspaper had asked Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office if he himself had ever had pay problems with Phoenix.

His attaché, Mohammad Hussain, limited himself to responding that the latter “is paid by the House of Commons, like the other deputies”.

Asked by The newspaperthe House of Commons was unable to say whether elected members of the House were also victims of the system.

“The House Administration does not have a record of underpayments or overpayments resulting from errors generated by the Phénix system,” responded its spokesperson, Amélie Crosson.

– With the collaboration of Charles Mathieu

Phoenix pay issues

• 2016: launch of the Phénix pay system
• 2021: $2,500 compensation for losses (2016-2020)
• 2023: 448,000 pay problems

(Source: Canadian government)

Cost of the contract to IBM: $650 million

The newspaper reproduces in full here the letter that Héryk Julien sent to Justin Trudeau

(the bold in the text is its author)

Mr Prime Minister,

I express to you my deep dissatisfaction with the Phoenix pay service, which seriously affects my financial situation and that of many other federal employees. We are held hostage by a broken payroll system. This implies enormous economic and psychological difficulties, which we did not choose and which we do not deserve.

I have been serving the public service for almost 24 years and over the last 8 years Phénix has generated major errors in 6 of them. I am in an untenable financial situation with several tens of thousands of dollars in debt due to Phoenix’s errors. This is a situation that I did not choose and which was imposed on me despite all my efforts to avoid it. I feel betrayed and devalued by my employer. I ask you, Mr Prime Minister, to demonstrate leadership and compassion towards Phoenix victims.

I urge you to take concrete and rapid action to resolve the issues with the payroll service. It is unacceptable that dedicated and competent workers are treated with such little respect and consideration. It is time to put in place a reliable, transparent pay system that guarantees everyone the right to be paid fairly and fairly. The system must stop generating new errors year after year. It must be more human and flexible. By example, when recovering, it must take into consideration the specific situations of victims of the system to avoid pushing families into financial precarity. The current reimbursement terms are completely inhumane. We are victims of errors in the federal pay system and, as such, we should have access to support and recourse. This is not the case currently.

Thank you for your attention and I hope to receive a favorable response from you.

Please accept, Mr Prime Minister, the expression of my most distinguished feelings.

Héryk Julien