Phoenix public service pay problems could last until October

Temp-agency workers hired by the federal government to help staff a Phoenixcall centre handling inquiries from the 80,000 public servants having issues with their payhave no security clearance, and are telling callers that it could take until October to resolve issues, CBC News has learned.

Managers decided last Thursday to recruitworkers from a temp agencyto staff the Toronto call centre, whichhas been inundated with queriesfrom panicked public servants, some of whom have placed literally hundreds of calls to the pay centre before reaching an agent.

The temps started working Monday and were given scripts to help them field questions.One of those scripts instructs them to tell public servants that if they informed the government of pay problems beforeJune 1,there would be some sort ofresolution by October. Senior bureaucrats previously said it could take "months" to sort through the backlog of problems,but had not been specific about which month.

Some employees have already gone months without a paycheque, prompting at least one to quit her government job as the bills piled up.

'Big waste of time'

The temps at the call centredo not necessarily have any background working in compensation, and training has been largely non-existent, sources told CBC News.

The Phoenix pay system has already prompted securityconcerns after it was revealed there have beentwo breaches ofpublic servants' private data, including names, pay amountsand "Personal Record Identifiers."

"Without having any checks in place, the government is putting literally peopleoff the street, without any security checks, or training, to pick up phone calls and take in employee pay concerns," said a source with knowledge of the call centre setup. Security clearance is expected to be applied "retroactively" to these workers.

CBC News has agreed to protect theidentity of sources for fear of retribution from management.

• How the Phoenix pay system rose and fell
• Phoenix overhaul leaves compensation worker laid off, over $100K owed to her
• MPs to hold emergency meeting Thursday on bungled Phoenix payroll system
• Fed up after 5 months without pay, public servant quits job in disgust

There is concern that these new tempsare simply placating public servants and doing little to actually resolve ongoing compensation issues.

"The thing is that when they take in these concerns, they don't even have the ability to submit a case number. All this call centre will do is make sure when employees call that they reach someone only to have that person tell them that there is nothing they can do," a source said. "A colleague called ...she was insistent on speaking to a comp adviser. The agent said there is none there and no one has access to anything. She felt it was bigwaste of time."

A spokesperson for Public Services and Procurement Canada confirmed late Thursday that it has created a "triage call centre," and that phone line capacity is being increasedto ensure employees calling to report an issue with their pay can actually get through and speak to someone.

"Contracted staff there assist clients by filling out, on their behalf, [an] externally availableWeb form, and assigning a priority level, based on a script provided to them. They do not have access to the Phoenix system or employee pay information,"Pierre-Alain Bujold said.

Judy Foote, the minister responsible for Phoenix, saidWednesdaythat the government has hired 50 new "casual employees" and summerstudents in Miramichi, N.B. and is currently scouting out other locations for "regional hubs"to help compensation adviserssort through the mounting caseload.

"We don't want the people in Miramichi having to deal with a backlog of issues, we want them to deal with the jobs they were hired to do andto relieve any stress that they may feel as a result of having to deal with issues that really weren't part of the job they took," she said.

Twenty-eight of the Miramichi's 600pay centre staff are currently on sick leave, with someattributing itto the pressure of dealing with the faulty system.

Phoenix falling

Marie Lemay, deputy minister for Public Services and Procurement,told reporters last weekthat 720 federal employeesmostlynewhiresand students had contacted the government about not being paid since the Phoenix pay system was implemented earlier this year, and that 486 of them would geta lump sum of back pay this week. Foote confirmed Thursday that thatpool ofpublic servants has now been paid.

Another 1,100 workers havenot received parental, long-term disability or severance payments, while more than 80,000 employees entitled to supplementary pay for extra duties, overtime or pay adjustments have had problems.

Phoenix was initiated by Stephen Harper'sConservatives and was rolled out in phases underTrudeau's watch earlier this year amidwarnings fromthe largest union representing federal public servants that there would beproblems.

The Public Service Alliance of Canada said thousands of its members experienced problems duringthe first phase of the rollout,which began in late February,and in April,the union urged the Liberals not to move aheadwith the next phase.

The government said at the time thatonly 300 employees had made formal complaintsabout the system and that "almost all" of the technical issues had been resolved.

MPs on the government operations and estimates committee will hold an emergency meeting Thursday to study Phoenix's disastrous rollout. Department officials, federal employees and union representatives will behauled in front of the committee to get at the source of the problem.

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Phoenix pay glitches unacceptable

8 years ago

Duration 2:24

Deputy Minister of Public Services and Procurement, Marie Lemay, says the glitches in the pay system are unacceptable, and blames the problems on a lack of training to get workers comfortable with the new pay system.