Hundreds more public servants come forward with Phoenix pay problems, government says

The number of public servants affected by the plagued Phoenix pay system continues to rise by the hundreds and is expected to climb even higher,say government officials.

At a technical briefing on Thursday, Public Services and Procurement Canada announced that 274 more public servants came forward in the last two weeks and said they are not being paid at all.

Another 620 workers lodged complaints that they were only getting partially paid, Deputy Minister Marie Lemay said.

We expect this will keep happening, but should continue to diminish ...- Marie Lemay, deputy minister

"We expect this will keep happening, but should continue to diminish as we continue to identify and resolve root causes," said Lemay.

Ever since the federal government launched its new Phoenix payroll system, designed by IBM, in February it's been plagued with problems. Tens of thousands of workersreported being underpaid, overpaid and not paid at all.

Some public servantsmaxed out their credit cards,went on stress leave, orquit because they could no longer afford to pay for their child's daycare bill.

Working through backlog

The government has hired 120 compensation advisers so far to work atnew, temporarypay centres in Gatineau, Winnipeg and Shawinigan to deal with the massive backlog of cases.

More than 77,000 people are receiving their normal pay but are missing their acting pay, salary adjustments, or extra duty pay. That's down from 82,000 cases in mid-July. The government says it's on track to address all of the cases by Oct. 31.

A new call centre in Toronto is handling 2,100 calls a day with workers so compensation advisers at the Miramichi pay centre can focus on cases, Lemay said.

Overpayment clawbacks eased

In recent weeks, the government encouraged workers struggling financially to apply for emergency salary advances to get by.However, the way the system is set up,thosesalary advances automatically came off an employee's next paycheque.

That made some people's problems go from bad to worse. They went from getting some pay to suddenly receiving a $0.00 paycheque.

"As of today we're not going to go and claw it all at [once]," said Lemay. "What we've decided collectively is that we will actually do this now on multiple pay periods."

Anyone with questions about the tax implications of their payment issues can get answers through an information line being set up by the Canada Revenue Agency, Lemay said.

Aclaims process for theout-of-pocket expenses incurred by workers with pay issueswill hopefully bein place by early September, according to Lemay.

'No one should feel intimidated'

Some workers have told CBC News they fear reprisal for coming forward about the problems they're having, something Lemay said Thursday was "very concerning" to her.

We can't help if we don't know who you are.- Marie Lemay, deputy minister

"No one should feel intimidated" about coming forward about their basic right to payment, Lemay said.

She asked anyone withissues to confront the government about them.

"We can't help if we don't know who you are," Lemay said.

Phoenix falling

CBC Ottawa has beencollecting storiesfrom civil servants, part-time employees and student workers who have been affected by the Phoenix payroll system problems. Here are some of their stories:

• Phoenix problems make public servant feel 'penalized'
• Public servant not getting any health or dental benefits
• Cancer survivor unpaid since return to work
• Single mommaxedout after 2 months without pay
• Without pay, student caught in desperate catch-22

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