Federal pay system failure takes human toll

From the moment the federal government began rolling out its new automated payroll system last winter, it seemed, Phoenix began to fail.

The Public Service Alliance of Canada was sounding the alarm by April, complaining that thousands of its members hadn't been paid. Some public servants were already measuring their pay droughtin months rather than weeks. For many, their savings were running out and bills were piling up.

• New payroll system leaving thousands of public servants in the lurch, says PSAC
• Problems continue to plague public service pay system

In Ottawa, the epicentre of Canada'spublic service, CBC reporter Julie Iretonpicked up the story. She discovered that workers in special circumstances those returning from leave, or short-term employees were being hit hardest.

• Short-term workers short-changed by glitch-plagued government pay system
• Public service pay glitches cause headaches for workers on parental leave

In June, adozen unions representing federal government workersfileda notice of applicationin Federal Courtover the growing mess. It was becoming clear that if the wheels hadn't completely fallen off Phoenix, they were dangerouslyloose.

The minister in charge of the payroll system,JudyFoote, called the situation"unacceptable,"and announced the establishment of a dedicated pay centre inGatineau, Que., to deal with the ballooning backlog of cases. Not to be outdone, Treasury Board PresidentScottBrisoninvited frustrated workers to call his office directly.

And still the stories kept coming.

Personal, heartbreaking accounts

CBC Ottawa invited public servants to contact our newsroom directly. Public servants, a group typically reluctantto speak out publicly, flooded ourinboxwith their personal, often heartbreaking accounts. Some asked to remain anonymous, but many were willing to let us put faces and names to our coverage.

Student employeeJarradYardon, 23, hadn't received regular pay since January. Despite hundreds of calls to the pay centre in Miramichi, N.B., and emailsto Foote's office, no one would help.His credit card maxedout, his savings depleted and his options running out, Yardon was reduced toeating salted rice three times a day.

He was also facing a desperate catch-22:

"If I don't have money for tuition, I cannot enrol in classes. If I cannot enrol in classes, I cannot continue my employment [in theFederal Student Work ExperienceProgram]. If I cannot enrol in classes, I will soon have to begin repaying any outstanding student loans. Doing this will be impossible if I am unemployed. Come September when my contract is over, I will be without a job, without money, and dropped out of my final year of university."

Perversely, some employees continued receiving paychequeslong after their contracts with the federal government ended.

"I left a government department on Dec. 31, 2015, and continued to get paid until the end of April 2016," Fabienne wrote. "I'm very worried that I will be somehow penalized for this,not to mention that it will throw off my taxes and benefits ... The amount of the overpayment is huge:$15,969.67!"

'The system is working'

There's growing evidence that the Phoenix system was launched before the supportingbureaucracy was ready for it.

Speaking to CBC'sOntario Today,Rosanna Di Paola,the associate assistant deputy minister responsible for Phoenix explained that the problem lay not in any technical flaw with the automated system, but in theflow of data that's being fed into it.

The problem, Di Paola explained, is procedural, not technical. "The system is working."

But for scores of public servants, the system is not working. It's failed them completely.

'Shame and sadness'

"If this were to ever happen in a private corporation ofequivalent size to the federal government, there would be an absoluteuproar," wrote student employee Jordan Rinehart, summing up the views of many people who contacted us.

"The real shame and sadness in this whole tragedy is that itjust so happens to be all of the most vulnerable groups of people whoare affected.

"The government has failed its ownemployees, and has deeply affected the trust that I previously had forthem."

On Thursday the ombudsmanfor National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces, fed up with the lack of action from the federal government, demanded hard deadlines for a Phoenix fix.

The public services minister was unable to provide thattimetable. But Judy Footedid confirm Friday that employees at the pay centre hadn't been properly trained in data entry, and that despite thousands of successful test runs, the Phoenix system is not operating in practice the way it was supposed to in theory.

CBC News will continue to cover this story, and will continue to collect and publish human stories behind the Phoenix failure.

If you want to tell us yours, please emailusatjennifer.beard@cbc.ca.