Phoenix overpayments just tip of $250M iceberg, records show

On the heels of a CBC report revealing federal workers were overpaid more than $70 million under the troubled Phoenix system, the government now says it actually doled out $250 million more than it should have between 2012 and 2015.

The deputy minister in charge of Phoenix, Marie Lemay,released the numbers after explaining on Wednesday that it was overpayingworkers before the troubled pay system was brought in.

"It's important to note overpayments were also experienced in the old system," said Lemay.

The government is trying to cover up this Phoenix fiasco. The excuse is unacceptable.- Dany Richard, ACFO

The president of theAssociation of Canadian Financial Officers saidit's an "unacceptable" excuse that exposes a major problem in the federal government.

"The government is trying to cover up this Phoenix fiasco," saidDanyRichard. "The excuse is unacceptable, you cannot simply tell people you've done it in the past, so it's not that bad."

Richard, who represents accountants within the public service, said he's worried about just how much time and resources aregoing into recouping the money paid out in error.

"You shouldn't have any overpayments. Maybe some mistakes, but these are millions of dollars and the fact that we're just saying, 'Oh it's OK, it's normal, it's standard procedure' It shouldn't be this way. These are taxpayers' funds," he said.

Overpayments increased during transition

Public Services and Procurement Canada saidoverpayments most commonly happen when public servantsretire or go on leave.

The department emailedreporters thesenumbers a day after the newsconference. Theyshowoverpayments increased in 2014, from $45 million to $78 million:

• 2015- $78.3million
• 2014 - $78.6 million
• 2013 - $45.2 million
• 2012 - $53.8 million

That increase coincides with a transition period when the government started letting go of compensation advisers, amalgamating pay records and training new advisers at the pay centre inMiramichi, N.B., according to the Government Services Union.

GSU national president Donna Lackiesaidshe's as surprised as anyone about the overpayments, and doesn't know whytheydoubled.

"I had no idea overpayments were ever that high and I have been in government for 30 years," saidLackie."If that's traditional I can tell you I never knew that."

She plans to go to Public Services and Procurement Canada to find out what's going on and calls it concerning.

$15M still missing

PSPCsaidit recouped almost all of the $250 million inoverpayments that were made between 2012-2015.

"At the end of 2015, 94 per centof these have been recovered and processes continued to recover remaining amounts," said PSPC in a statement.

That means that six per cent was not recovered by the end of that year, totaling more than $15 million.

Lemay says Phoenix should eventually minimize overpayments compared to the old payroll system.

"Over time [overpayments] should appear less and less frequently because we now have a system that flags any payments over $10,000 so that departments and agencies can validate these amounts before payments are made," said Lemay on Wednesday.

She's assuring the public that "all overpayments will be recovered" once it processes a backlog of over 290,000 cases in the next several months.