The Phénix payroll system is targeting a Laval civil servant, from whom the government is demanding more than $12,000 at the dawn of her retirement, even though it cannot pay her for several months of work. work done years ago. “It affected my pension, my sick leave… Everything was affected,” laments Michèle-Ann Rainville, who has been a parole officer for almost 30 years.
She is one of tens of thousands of federal civil servants who still have not resolved their old compensation problems caused by the Phoenix pay system. In her case, the faulty software wiped out nearly $30,000 of her salary between 2016 and 2018, a tidy sum that she resigned herself to never getting.
Proof that a payroll problem caused by Phoenix never comes alone, Mme Rainville received a new tile in January 2024. Her employer is now asking her for no less than $12,540.44 just when she wants to retire. The system claims to have paid her this excess money, although she claims to have never seen this amount in her bank account.
“Another mix-up, confusion Phoenix! » she notes. Among many other problems on his record, years of operational experience have gone missing, jeopardizing his pension amount.
Too late for the money
Met at her home in Laval, Michèle-Ann Rainville presents Duty his medal “for distinguished services in correctional environments”, awarded in 2018 by the Governor General of Canada.
Unfortunately, depression caused in part by her financial troubles prevented her from collecting her prize in person in Ottawa. “I would tell you that, for reasons of survival, I packed up my Phénix file, then I focused on work,” she explains, speaking of her return to office in 2021.
However, the federal government considers that it is now too late to recover the amounts she is claiming, despite the multiple attempts she has made over the years, since the limitation period has passed.
The duty was able to consult 11 payment slips showing that she did not receive a penny of her pay for around twenty weeks between July 2016 and November 2018. Mme Rainville also documented his efforts to recover his lost paychecks, his health problems and even a $20,000 loan from his mother to pay his bills during this difficult period.
“I have answers from green plants [de son employeur]. I am being sent emails without any valid information. I have been sent from Caiaphas to Pilate ever since,” describes M.me Rainville, who also says he has the support of his superiors in his efforts.
Thousands like her
The main union of federal civil servants estimates that 19,000 employees who have retired (or who have permanently left the public service) are still dragging around an old unresolved pay problem, courtesy of the Phoenix system.
“Not only is the system not fixed, but the situation is worse today than it was in 2016, when we launched it,” says Bruce Roy, national president of the Government Services Union of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC). The Phénix pay problem specialist within this union estimates that some 140,000 civil servants are currently awaiting a settlement in their pay files in 2024. “The problems have grown so much, they are piling up, and it has a snowball effect,” he explains.
Without commenting on the precise situation of Mme Rainville, Bruce Roy confirms that the government is claiming from its civil servants sums that have been owed to it for years, while considering that its own debts to its employees become prescribed after eight years. “What we see is: “I owe you $1,000 since 2020… But you owe me $20,000 since 2017!” » he explains.
The problems have grown so much, they’re piling up, and it’s snowballing.
The Phénix payroll system was ordered from a government subcontractor, the multinational IBM, by the Conservative government of Stephen Harper. However, the system was launched by the current Liberal government in 2016, and it has since caused a spectacular cascade of intractable problems for the remuneration of its employees.
In an email to DutyCorrectional Service Canada says it is unable to comment on the specific case of Mme Rainville, but assures that “the health and well-being of [ses] employees are a top priority.”
The federal government is currently going through a major controversy over its failing management of another IT file, the border control application ArriveCAN, developed by subcontractors at a cost of at least $59.5 million.