Parental, disability leave Phoenix issues should be fixed this spring, federal government promises

The federal government will catch up on Phoenix pay system problems related to parental and disability leave by this spring, says the minister overseeing the service for Canada's public servants, adding that other types of pay issues could be solved by summer.

Marie Lemay, deputy minister of Public Services and Procurement Canada, made the commitment in Ottawa on Wednesday morning while giving an update on the troubled pay system for public service workers.

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Specifically, Lemay said the cases of anyone with parental leave problemsin the backlog will be resolved by the end of March and disability leave problems will be resolved by end of April.

As of April and May, the government hopes to be able to resolve 95 per cent of any new parental and disability leave claims within 20 working days of being filed, which is the standard.

Once that happens, the focus will shift to other types of pay requests "until steady state is reached across the board," Lemay said.

The computerized Phoenix pay system, rolled out lastFebruary, has been at the centre ofcomplaints by tens of thousands of federalemployees. Some were underpaid, others were overpaid and some were not paid at all.

Processing times lengthy, assessment planned

In an effort to be more transparent, the government is now posting a monthly report online that shows when employees can expect different categories ofpay problems to be fixed.

It's the first time since the government missed a self-imposed Oct. 31 deadline to clear a backlog of problems that it has unveiled any new deadlines.

The biggest problem with Phoenix continues to be slow processing times, Lemay said.

About 290,000 unresolved pay requests have been waiting in the system longer than 20 days.

The pay centre is currently resolvingabout 100,000 requests per month. Plans are underway to start automating acting pay tospeed up the process.

A review of how employees interact with Phoenix is also in the works to find ways to speed up processing times, Lemay said.

"When Phoenix was planned and implemented, there was not enough attention placed on the processes and the practices that people would use to interact with it. We focused on the technology working, not on working with the technology," she said.

"We will be conducting an expert third-party assessment to identify the processes, behaviours and practices that can be adjusted ... to avoid pay delays and increase processing efficiencies."

Recouping overpayments

According to documents obtained by CBC/Radio Canada, more than 26,000 employees have been mistakenly overpaid a total of nearly $70 million.Only about a third of the money sent out in error about $22.3 million has been recovered.

Lemay says the government will recoup any money paid in error once they get up to speed processing transactions. A system is inplace that flags anyone who is overpaid more than $10,000.

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"All overpayments will be recoveredonce we process these outstanding transactions," she said.

At least $18 million in overpayments were given to employees considered inactive,meaning their contracts are completed, or they retired, quit or took an unpaid leave, according to the documents.

Backlog down to 6,000 cases

At the last Phoenix briefing on Jan. 25, Lemaysaid the government was still trying to clear abacklog of 7,000 pay-related cases (down from 82,000), and that the focus was beginning to shift to resolving more recent cases.

The backlog now sits at about 6,000 cases.

But thosenumbers only representthe backlog of cases filed by the end of June 2016. Federal unions have said more workers have since come forward with pay problems.

How to file taxes

Critics have also voiced concerns that the upcoming tax season could bring forth a fresh crop of Phoenix-related problems. As a result, the government is urging public servants to:

1. Obtain their T4s through the compensation web applications site as of Feb. 13.
2. Consult their final 2016 pay stub using the same website.
3. Compare the T4 to the pay stub to make sure earnings match the tax slip. (Information on how to do this and what to look out for will be posted online next week, Lemay said.)
4. If they match, file taxes as usual. If they don't match, consult an online Q&A that includes a range of tax scenarios.
5. Anyone with further questions should contact the call centre.