Phoenix

A Quebec judge has ruled that the grievance process available to unionized employees in the federal public service is well equipped to deal with the fallout of Phoenix pay problems. The judge certified a class action lawsuit against the Government of Canada for two groups of employees that don’t have access to the existing process: casuals and students.

PSAC members gathered at Jody Wilson-Raybould's constituency office in Vancouver on April 7th to highlight some of the ways they have been affected by the Phoenix pay fiasco and to deliver a message for the Minister of Justice to take back to Ottawa: the government must take every step necessary to pay federal public service workers correctly and on-time, every time, and make amends for the hardships caused by Phoenix. Some photos ...

Two surveys conducted by the Canadian government and the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), respectively, confirm that federal public service workers have suffered a number of significant hardships that should be remedied through damages.

As many as one in three PSAC members affected by Phoenix have incurred out-of-pocket expenses. When the Phoenix nightmare began, one of the first things PSAC did was secure a claims process for expenses incurred because of inaccurate pay. We encourage our members to claim these expenses.

PSAC and our members are frustrated with the government’s failure to follow through on its commitment to delay recoveries of overpayments and emergency pay until federal public service workers have had all their pay problems resolved.

Now that tax filing season is in full swing, PSAC wants to remind its members in the federal public service about some important information regarding Phoenix-related tax implications. 

PSAC, and the other unions representing federal public service workers, are negotiating damages with the government for the undue stress and hardships caused by the Phoenix pay system.

In response to pressure from PSAC, the federal government has finally agreed to halt recoveries of overpayments, emergency salary advances (ESA) and priority payments until employees’ pay files have been cleared of all outstanding transactions.

Friends, I want to thank all the members in BC who helped organize and took part in actions on February 28th to mark the second anniversary of the disastrous Phoenix pay system. By all accounts the day was a huge success and I am very proud of the BC Region. Click for a wrap up of the activities that took place and the excellent media coverage.