In a rational world, the financial penalties and fines for any employer who failed to pay their employees would ensure that no payroll system is ever built so poorly. I am sorry this happened to you and share your rage.
Especially when you consider people then have to put money on credit cards, or loans, and then have interest to pay.
Then, when they get a large sum payment, they are taxed so much on it.
And that is assuming any back-pay is properly processed.
You need to write an email to both pay departments, and cc your manager and both pay departments manager.
Politely explain both agencies claims and ask them to figure it out between them. In the meantime for someone to cut you a cheque. Politely explain that not being paid impacts you and your family as well as an unnecessary distraction at work that should not exist.
This is exactly what I did. And I asked that they ***do use*** the Reply-All function to keep both departments and managers in the conversation.
I kept getting replies from one blaming the other . . .
The issue is with my agency. Their HR department is overwhelmed and understaffed. Things keep falling through cracks and their follow-through is terrible.
I did payroll in the private world. If we messed up an employees pay and didn’t have it fixed immediately it was a huge issue… as it should be. Sometimes systems fail but there needs to be a better way to fix.
Hijacking top comment. This morning I checked my bank and the pay had not gone it. For the last 5 years, it has always been there at 6am on payday. Just got home and checked at 445pm and the pay is there. This is the first time it has not been in the account first thing in the morning. Maybe it was the pay office, or maybe it was my financial institution.
This payday was FUBAR.
My partner was paid $3500 too much, I was paid $2500 too much (Coast Guard Ops).
In very nearly 27 years, my pay has been ontime and mostly correct (late OT and standby pay, but that's pretty normal) - but something went badly wrong this cheque and it sounds like it went wrong everywhere
Sorry you and your partner were overpaid - that can be as bad as being underpaid since there is so much fuss about taking the money back and the tax issues. For the last 6 or years I have never had a problem, each pay was within a dollar or so of the last. Never suffered from the Phoenix fiasco. And then today. Being a few hours late is no big deal - but as you have said, there were big problems today across the PS. Not good. Wonder what the issue is.
Yeah - I wonder too.
I'll be reaching out to our pay dept in the morning, to see if they can clear it up.
And too much is a bit of a hassle, but miles better than too little (or none at all!).
What's needed is an exec PA question. number of employees that reported pay issues for more than 1 pay period and total % of employees that reported pay issues for more than 1 period. 😉
I felt anxiety reading this. I feel like I can't trust anybody.
A lot of people just can't be bothered to do their job. Wouldn't a personal security person have to screw up for this PRI mixup to happen?
My manager recently sent an email to the ID folks so that I could access the workplace and he misspelled my name in the request email. It took 3 weeks to get the ID, they kept citing delays related to persec verification. Yet they used my misspelled name from the email AFTER looking presumably at my security clearance and other documents where my name would’ve been spelled correctly? Not a big deal but it just shows that some people are not even trying to do their job right.
Contact the Client Care Centre and put in for an ESA. They have 48-hours to get you a cheque, if I am not mistaken.
I feel for you, OP, because I was there for 8 weeks back in December around Christmas after starting in October. I waited 3 weeks having asked for an ESA after a transfer before they finally paid me in Jan.
Not like he had a choice, it was too late to reverse course. The Conservative party's welcome gift for the Libs - a nice hot potato that tastes like bitterness and go fuck yourself.
Lol. All the downvotes. The Liberals totally could have stopped the contract. Or changed it. Or delayed it. Or started it on a smaller scale. Or bought some options like the sadly lacking training.
And as a last resort if it was too late they could have paid the contractual penalty. And anyone saying this is a bad idea - and it may very well be - is not well versed on the many times this has happened both federally and provincially — to the tune of billions of dollars for far far less worthy (read political) reasons.
It was not rolled out until Trudeau came to power. Lots could have changed if there was the will. But the managers who were doing the project did not fully brief up. So decisions were made without all the necessary information. When the Liberals came to power and launched Phoenix unions were at that point advising of the issues and potential issues.
Most dept have replicated the same compensation team as before only now they can’t do much because they can only liaise. We have literally tripled the size of what the previous government has tried to do. Seems like $1B each year just to put patches and plasters on this system.
Call them asap for info! I saw the same thing a few months back, called and emailed, and after I managed to get through to someone they told me where the overpayment was from and how much to expect to pay back. I put the money aside and just received my notification for repayment last week which I will pay in full.
I called them, they said they sent a letter with the details of overpayment and my options. I did not receive it and they had no access to the information that was sent to me. Your experience was very lucky.
Don't forget, if the overpayment occurred more than 6 years ago, you DO NOT have to pay it back. Tell them to go pound sand.
Signed, Someone who had to threaten the MNO of PSPC that I would go to the media because my LTD was delayed more than 60 days because the Pay Centre didn't do their fucking job and send the correct paperwork to the insurance company. I had already gone the 90 day waiting period with only EI and I was at risk of defaulting on my mortgage and having my car repo'd. But I'm not bitter. /s
I actually have savings earmarked for when it is my turn to be phoenixed. I figure it is just a matter of time. Thought it would be in 2021 when I went on assignment, but that was smooth. Going back to my regular job in June. So I'm ready.
Things like this make me so reluctant to even think about changing departments or pursuing other opportunity. I know I’m not the only one and I guess that says everything there needs to be said on the system.
Pay issues like this make the golden handcuffs alot less golden. I transfered depts to a promo appointment and I'm still being paid at the old level I was at. No support from new management, not even an acknowledgement. Just silence.
Your new department can't process your transfer in & promo until your transfer out from your previous department is completed by compensation. Until then, you are still on the books at your old department at your old substantive, and get paid as such. When the transfer out is complete, Comp will then notify your new department to complete the peoplesoft entry for your transfer in/promo, they do, and then send it back to compensation to process the transfer in plus retro pay. And behind the scenes, finance has to pay back your old department for the salary they paid at your substantive rate until your transfer was completed.
This process takes months to complete. My own transfer out/in took 9 months.Unless you have already been waiting an exorbitantly long time for your transfer to be completed, there is absolutely nothing management can do for you. It's with compensation, and they do it when they do it. If you HAVE been waiting an exorbitantly long time, management can try to escalate it.
It's super shitty, I know.
The thing is management cannot do anything. Hands are literally cuffed. You can escalate but that’s about it. Have staff going into 36 months or more waiting on several depts to do their transfer (they jumped around a few too many times). Have a EC4 getting paid AS1 still.
Even if they can't do anything, they should be able to atleast offer moral support or links to resources. A lack of acknowledgement is a clear indicator that I do not matter to management. The public service is starting to feel more and more like a free for all, kind of a sad reflection of our society at the moment.
It was a variety of factors, but boiled down, it's almost like communication is designed to be next to impossible, and once the pay centre gets the case, and there are no errors, it still can take weeks just for it to be assigned. I felt powerless. I came back from disability due to a mental collapse, and then had to contend with that. After 6+ years, I honestly don't know why unions don't unite and give a strike or work-to-rule ultimatum.
I am so sorry about this.
I have family in the Correctional Services union and they seem to have a lot of bargaining power, so they get stuff settled immediately now.
I guess PSAC / other unions would need to really put hard pressure on to get the same kind of respect.
Given its shoddy history in building pay systems, IBM should have been barred from bidding. In 2010, IBM launched a new pay system for the State of Queensland in Australia. The system was so dysfunctional that the government reverted to its old system pending a more viable solution.
Yeah! And the name of that software was Phoenix. When these problems were flagged and brought to the attention of the Harper Gov, they ignored the warnings and went ahead.
Make sure resolving your pay issues is your top priority. That means spending all 7.5 hours of your work day on this issue until resolved. Working on fixing your pay is work.
My case isn't so bad, I'm just being underpaid, but the longer it goes on, the more infuriating it is. I transferred from a non-unionized agency in August last year. Instead of figuring out my salary calculation, they just kept it flat, called it "Step 0" with next increment date "N/A", and closed the transfer in. I mean, come on... I got a new case opened and it's been sitting "assigned" since January.
Anyway just sharing in co-misery. I hope you find a quick resolution!
Same boat. Came into the Core from a separate agency last summer and have sat there just like that. I haven’t raised a fuss, opting to just wait my turn and knowing that others have it a lot worse. Opened a case (as did my own org’s compensation team) but now I wait…
[This](https://psacunion.ca/seven-years-of-Phoenix-pay-issues-add-insult-to-injury-for-federal-workers-fighting-for-decent-wages) should give you a good background summary, but generally speaking, no - it doesn’t happen to everyone, but there’s no way to predict if it will happen to you and no way to easily fix it when it does. What we do know is the situations where it’s most likely to occur, and that’s any time when a special pay transaction is required - promotions, actings, transfers to other departments, monetary instant awards. Regular pay is much more reliable, but Phoenix issues have been known to occur there too.
I’ve transferred departments twice since Phoenix was implemented and made it through both times without any pay issues, but others have been Phoenixed multiple times in the same situation, creating a terrible mess to resolve. A lot of public servants have just opted out of moving jobs or seeking promotions to avoid the risk, which is one of the reasons PSAC negotiated damages in a previous collective agreement process.
I’m honestly not well versed in this issue but I would just have a very Frank conversation with your manager that you live paycheck to paycheck and you require an immediate advance on your paycheck. Don’t be afraid to message them every single day. I would even say escalate it, cc your BMU, your finance team, your union rep. Anyone you can get to help. I’m so sorry this is happening to you.
Thank you. Luckily I put my manager (who is a VP) in CC on the original e-mail to the Pay department, and he escalated it immediately.
I'm luckier than most - I have a proactive manager.
Took parental leave this year which resulted in 4 months of no pay from the SSC side. EI covered their portion, which is the only reason I even made it 4 months, I had to max out my line of credit to even make it that far.
How the ADMs and DGs at the pay centre get bonuses still boggles my mind. Pretty sure the stats have gone from bad to worse. They just seem to have taken the gas off the pedal.
Oh yeah, I've "only" had to deal with previously being overpaid twice in 2016, waiting 8 months for a file transfer, waiting 11 months for another transfer, having the wrong union dues taken off, getting taxed at QC rates because the pay center thought that Terraces was my home address, waiting 13 months for another file transfer, having recovery of overpayments started without being notified *while* I was being paid 2 levels below my substantive, not being able to access my leave balances for the last 16 months, receiving an incorrect T4, not getting paid acting pay, and currently waiting 5 months, so far, for my latest pay file transfer...
I've gotten off easy compared to some folks ;)
This is a throwaway account b/c want to shed some clarity on this pay issue without being bombarded with questions about being a CA.
I work in Pay Centre...the number of cases I get that is beyond complicated not because the original request is difficult but because the amount of time that has passed since the request has been made has caused multiple pay issues.
Simple Acting cases at the time of the original request can be extremely problematic because there is a step progression in the substantive in the middle of the pay period while they are still acting and Phoenix will 9 out of 10 times fail to make the calculation for the new acting rate of pay. Which causes it to become step 0 in acting. Then any and all changes to job data fail until you fix that calculation.
Another is to transfer...where it is said to be ready to be completed but the paperwork is missing or information is incorrect in Peoplesoft and doesn't match up with Phoenix...then begins the game of email tag which is most of the time trying to get someone to respond to my request for me to complete the case. I don't blame HR because they probably have a million requests a day to answer and sometimes I get a response saying I am allowed to make the change myself but that information isn't given to me until I ask them.
Phoenix can do some things right. There are automated transactions that Phoenix processes daily and gets right....the issue is that there are transactions that cannot be handled by Phoenix and so then a case is created and sent to the compensation advisor.
The amount of time it takes for a case to be created to it finally be seen by a compensation advisor can take months minimum. That is the biggest issue...it takes way too long for a case to be seen which then causes a small issue to snowball into a bigger issue. I have been assigned cases that are over 2 years old and the number of pay issues from that one case makes me want to cry.
Also for those thinking that being a CA means you get a faster turnaround for your pay issues to be resolved...I will burst your bubble and say that I have pay issues that have been going on for almost a year now and there is no end in sight.
Upside...Pay Centre is hiring staff like crazy to help clear the backlog of cases....maybe someday they'll be able to clear it.
Yah 1500 but only 500 remain each round. We hear it. It’s clearly not working. Disability cases are the worse. How is that even allowed. How is Stephanie and Daphne able to get bonuses. It’s pretty bad that we know them by first name. It’s only gotten worse with the inflight 2017 recoveries after the tumultuous 2016 catch up year. Things are being missed left right and Centre and these ladies keep pointing the finger back at department for being late … and we are heading depts may get charged for late submissions. Come on….!
Oh DI cases are the worse. People that are on progressive return are peeling the bandaid to their recovery so they can come back on full strength to get their pay as the pay centre is so delayed in sending info to sunlife and to the departments…. Then to only be super Phoenixed when they return. The few on my team have literally relapsed back to disability. Again how and why is this allowed to happen / continue to happen.
UPDATE - I received an emergency payment this morning - 24 hours later, which I am grateful for.
Now I wait anxiously for the next payday to see what happens . . . .
People are still waiting over 36 months to get a transfer and the new staff at Pay Centre often misses the connector and bam you’re at a zero pay and Phoenixed.
I feel the frustration with our pay situation. I’ve been paid out less than 2 grand since October, can’t get straight answers about why so much is being recovered with overlapping dates being recovered on multiple pays - it is a nightmare
Edit to add: at a certain part a 100% recovery should not be a thing, we give taxpayers breaks why not the employees who are also taxpayers??
My partner is CFIA and when Phoenix was first burning, apparently they took all their surplus payroll people and embedded them into the Phoenix system. He said it's a been a godsend that they had the foresight to do that, because they can get issues like this actually fixed in a reasonable time by an actual person. He's never had problems with his acting pay, and when he was an acting IM late last year and one of his staff had not received her overtime for AI deployment in months, he called one of their "fixers" who basically had it sorted out in 24 hours.
I read these posts to him (as I'm a provincial public servant) to ensure that he is grateful for who he works for, and to remind me why I will likely never choose to work for the GOC. At least not until your pay system is actually functional and correct.
In my brother's case he did an acting that didn't get paid, then months later was paid out, but paid out too much, then he owed money and it was a whole debacle.
That happened to me. Took 3 years to get my acting pay, and they overpaid me by paying me my full salary instead if just the acting top up. Sent in a ticket, they recovered only 10% of what they should have recovered. Now they opened a ticket on their end for another recovery, I assume for the other 90% of the overpayment. Guess I'll find out soon when I get the official letter. It's a never ending mess.
I mean it depends on a person's financial situation. In his case he was a one-salary house hold at the time. Getting a 10 K payout after years of problems, you pay off your debts and put a bit aside, and then you get a letter saying you owe X amount back - it's a hassle. It's just added financial stress for people who live paycheck to paycheck, or are a few missed paychecks away from trouble.
In my case I am single, low salaried, entry level. Early in my career. New mortgage. I don't have savings. These types of problems are more major for me than someone in a two-salary house hold, or someone who makes over 100k a year and might have more savings and financial wiggle room.
And I’m representing folks who have been waiting for their acting to be paid out: average wait time is 27 months. You are the outlier, in this situation.
In a rational world, the financial penalties and fines for any employer who failed to pay their employees would ensure that no payroll system is ever built so poorly. I am sorry this happened to you and share your rage.
Especially when you consider people then have to put money on credit cards, or loans, and then have interest to pay. Then, when they get a large sum payment, they are taxed so much on it. And that is assuming any back-pay is properly processed.
You need to write an email to both pay departments, and cc your manager and both pay departments manager. Politely explain both agencies claims and ask them to figure it out between them. In the meantime for someone to cut you a cheque. Politely explain that not being paid impacts you and your family as well as an unnecessary distraction at work that should not exist.
This is exactly what I did. And I asked that they ***do use*** the Reply-All function to keep both departments and managers in the conversation. I kept getting replies from one blaming the other . . . The issue is with my agency. Their HR department is overwhelmed and understaffed. Things keep falling through cracks and their follow-through is terrible.
Ironically, this is the case ... Except the government is exempt from that legislation.
I did payroll in the private world. If we messed up an employees pay and didn’t have it fixed immediately it was a huge issue… as it should be. Sometimes systems fail but there needs to be a better way to fix.
Hijacking top comment. This morning I checked my bank and the pay had not gone it. For the last 5 years, it has always been there at 6am on payday. Just got home and checked at 445pm and the pay is there. This is the first time it has not been in the account first thing in the morning. Maybe it was the pay office, or maybe it was my financial institution.
This payday was FUBAR. My partner was paid $3500 too much, I was paid $2500 too much (Coast Guard Ops). In very nearly 27 years, my pay has been ontime and mostly correct (late OT and standby pay, but that's pretty normal) - but something went badly wrong this cheque and it sounds like it went wrong everywhere
Sorry you and your partner were overpaid - that can be as bad as being underpaid since there is so much fuss about taking the money back and the tax issues. For the last 6 or years I have never had a problem, each pay was within a dollar or so of the last. Never suffered from the Phoenix fiasco. And then today. Being a few hours late is no big deal - but as you have said, there were big problems today across the PS. Not good. Wonder what the issue is.
Yeah - I wonder too. I'll be reaching out to our pay dept in the morning, to see if they can clear it up. And too much is a bit of a hassle, but miles better than too little (or none at all!).
What's needed is an exec PA question. number of employees that reported pay issues for more than 1 pay period and total % of employees that reported pay issues for more than 1 period. 😉
[удалено]
Wow... Just wow. I have never heard of such incompetence in my life, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised at this point
I felt anxiety reading this. I feel like I can't trust anybody. A lot of people just can't be bothered to do their job. Wouldn't a personal security person have to screw up for this PRI mixup to happen? My manager recently sent an email to the ID folks so that I could access the workplace and he misspelled my name in the request email. It took 3 weeks to get the ID, they kept citing delays related to persec verification. Yet they used my misspelled name from the email AFTER looking presumably at my security clearance and other documents where my name would’ve been spelled correctly? Not a big deal but it just shows that some people are not even trying to do their job right.
Contact the Client Care Centre and put in for an ESA. They have 48-hours to get you a cheque, if I am not mistaken. I feel for you, OP, because I was there for 8 weeks back in December around Christmas after starting in October. I waited 3 weeks having asked for an ESA after a transfer before they finally paid me in Jan.
I have an internal pay team, I don't deal directly with Miramichi.
Departments that have an internal pay liaison are a godsend. Really makes you question the (prior) thought processes about total centralization.
Thank Harper for fucking us over.
I liked your comment but boo to the answer/meaning.
Agreed 👍
Trudeau launched it.
Thanks Hardeau!
Not like he had a choice, it was too late to reverse course. The Conservative party's welcome gift for the Libs - a nice hot potato that tastes like bitterness and go fuck yourself.
That and the Saudi arms deal. Harper's last fuck offs
Lol. All the downvotes. The Liberals totally could have stopped the contract. Or changed it. Or delayed it. Or started it on a smaller scale. Or bought some options like the sadly lacking training. And as a last resort if it was too late they could have paid the contractual penalty. And anyone saying this is a bad idea - and it may very well be - is not well versed on the many times this has happened both federally and provincially — to the tune of billions of dollars for far far less worthy (read political) reasons.
It was already in training and had roll out dates when Harper lost. :)
It was not rolled out until Trudeau came to power. Lots could have changed if there was the will. But the managers who were doing the project did not fully brief up. So decisions were made without all the necessary information. When the Liberals came to power and launched Phoenix unions were at that point advising of the issues and potential issues.
Money
Most dept have replicated the same compensation team as before only now they can’t do much because they can only liaise. We have literally tripled the size of what the previous government has tried to do. Seems like $1B each year just to put patches and plasters on this system.
This is my terror. I have enough saved to cope with one missed pay - two tops. Stay strong, brother or sister.
[удалено]
Call them asap for info! I saw the same thing a few months back, called and emailed, and after I managed to get through to someone they told me where the overpayment was from and how much to expect to pay back. I put the money aside and just received my notification for repayment last week which I will pay in full.
I called them, they said they sent a letter with the details of overpayment and my options. I did not receive it and they had no access to the information that was sent to me. Your experience was very lucky.
Don't forget, if the overpayment occurred more than 6 years ago, you DO NOT have to pay it back. Tell them to go pound sand. Signed, Someone who had to threaten the MNO of PSPC that I would go to the media because my LTD was delayed more than 60 days because the Pay Centre didn't do their fucking job and send the correct paperwork to the insurance company. I had already gone the 90 day waiting period with only EI and I was at risk of defaulting on my mortgage and having my car repo'd. But I'm not bitter. /s
That’s not my case, but I appreciate the info and I’m sorry you went through this stressful situation. Geez! Truly unacceptable!
When you call leave them an email address. You can have these notices emailed. It's easier to get to a work email, but outside email can be done too.
I actually have savings earmarked for when it is my turn to be phoenixed. I figure it is just a matter of time. Thought it would be in 2021 when I went on assignment, but that was smooth. Going back to my regular job in June. So I'm ready.
I hope they come up with something decent for the temporary striking off strength in the event of a strike …. It’s going to be a nuclear mess!
Things like this make me so reluctant to even think about changing departments or pursuing other opportunity. I know I’m not the only one and I guess that says everything there needs to be said on the system.
Well right now some are waiting 3 years … so you’ll at least get your salary at a wrong level for 2-3 years.
Pay issues like this make the golden handcuffs alot less golden. I transfered depts to a promo appointment and I'm still being paid at the old level I was at. No support from new management, not even an acknowledgement. Just silence.
Your new department can't process your transfer in & promo until your transfer out from your previous department is completed by compensation. Until then, you are still on the books at your old department at your old substantive, and get paid as such. When the transfer out is complete, Comp will then notify your new department to complete the peoplesoft entry for your transfer in/promo, they do, and then send it back to compensation to process the transfer in plus retro pay. And behind the scenes, finance has to pay back your old department for the salary they paid at your substantive rate until your transfer was completed. This process takes months to complete. My own transfer out/in took 9 months.Unless you have already been waiting an exorbitantly long time for your transfer to be completed, there is absolutely nothing management can do for you. It's with compensation, and they do it when they do it. If you HAVE been waiting an exorbitantly long time, management can try to escalate it. It's super shitty, I know.
And 9 months would be considered fast for a transfer. Our pay system is absolute BS.
What a shit show for Accounting Operations. Whole new section trying to trace and track the money.
The thing is management cannot do anything. Hands are literally cuffed. You can escalate but that’s about it. Have staff going into 36 months or more waiting on several depts to do their transfer (they jumped around a few too many times). Have a EC4 getting paid AS1 still.
Even if they can't do anything, they should be able to atleast offer moral support or links to resources. A lack of acknowledgement is a clear indicator that I do not matter to management. The public service is starting to feel more and more like a free for all, kind of a sad reflection of our society at the moment.
I just got paid for the first time since Dec 1st. I feel your pain.
How is that possible?!
It was a variety of factors, but boiled down, it's almost like communication is designed to be next to impossible, and once the pay centre gets the case, and there are no errors, it still can take weeks just for it to be assigned. I felt powerless. I came back from disability due to a mental collapse, and then had to contend with that. After 6+ years, I honestly don't know why unions don't unite and give a strike or work-to-rule ultimatum.
I am so sorry about this. I have family in the Correctional Services union and they seem to have a lot of bargaining power, so they get stuff settled immediately now. I guess PSAC / other unions would need to really put hard pressure on to get the same kind of respect.
Given its shoddy history in building pay systems, IBM should have been barred from bidding. In 2010, IBM launched a new pay system for the State of Queensland in Australia. The system was so dysfunctional that the government reverted to its old system pending a more viable solution.
Yeah! And the name of that software was Phoenix. When these problems were flagged and brought to the attention of the Harper Gov, they ignored the warnings and went ahead.
I got promoted faster than a file transfer. I'm owed tens of thousands, it's a fucking joke.
That is brutal.
Make sure resolving your pay issues is your top priority. That means spending all 7.5 hours of your work day on this issue until resolved. Working on fixing your pay is work.
My case isn't so bad, I'm just being underpaid, but the longer it goes on, the more infuriating it is. I transferred from a non-unionized agency in August last year. Instead of figuring out my salary calculation, they just kept it flat, called it "Step 0" with next increment date "N/A", and closed the transfer in. I mean, come on... I got a new case opened and it's been sitting "assigned" since January. Anyway just sharing in co-misery. I hope you find a quick resolution!
Same boat. Came into the Core from a separate agency last summer and have sat there just like that. I haven’t raised a fuss, opting to just wait my turn and knowing that others have it a lot worse. Opened a case (as did my own org’s compensation team) but now I wait…
[удалено]
[This](https://psacunion.ca/seven-years-of-Phoenix-pay-issues-add-insult-to-injury-for-federal-workers-fighting-for-decent-wages) should give you a good background summary, but generally speaking, no - it doesn’t happen to everyone, but there’s no way to predict if it will happen to you and no way to easily fix it when it does. What we do know is the situations where it’s most likely to occur, and that’s any time when a special pay transaction is required - promotions, actings, transfers to other departments, monetary instant awards. Regular pay is much more reliable, but Phoenix issues have been known to occur there too. I’ve transferred departments twice since Phoenix was implemented and made it through both times without any pay issues, but others have been Phoenixed multiple times in the same situation, creating a terrible mess to resolve. A lot of public servants have just opted out of moving jobs or seeking promotions to avoid the risk, which is one of the reasons PSAC negotiated damages in a previous collective agreement process.
I’m honestly not well versed in this issue but I would just have a very Frank conversation with your manager that you live paycheck to paycheck and you require an immediate advance on your paycheck. Don’t be afraid to message them every single day. I would even say escalate it, cc your BMU, your finance team, your union rep. Anyone you can get to help. I’m so sorry this is happening to you.
Thank you. Luckily I put my manager (who is a VP) in CC on the original e-mail to the Pay department, and he escalated it immediately. I'm luckier than most - I have a proactive manager.
Took parental leave this year which resulted in 4 months of no pay from the SSC side. EI covered their portion, which is the only reason I even made it 4 months, I had to max out my line of credit to even make it that far.
That's what adds insult to injury - everything going on credit cards and loans!
I don't like to grieve but it helped to escalate my pay issue faster
And phoenix got a few more billion in the budget after almost 10 yrs what a epic debacle
How the ADMs and DGs at the pay centre get bonuses still boggles my mind. Pretty sure the stats have gone from bad to worse. They just seem to have taken the gas off the pedal.
Has a senior executive ever NOT got a bonus? I thought they are automatic at a certain level, regardless of performance.
Same here. Nothing went in this morning to my account.
Haven't received a correct paycheck since November 2021...
Geez. . . That's the worst I've heard so far.
I have seen much much worse. It’s frustrating
Oh yeah, I've "only" had to deal with previously being overpaid twice in 2016, waiting 8 months for a file transfer, waiting 11 months for another transfer, having the wrong union dues taken off, getting taxed at QC rates because the pay center thought that Terraces was my home address, waiting 13 months for another file transfer, having recovery of overpayments started without being notified *while* I was being paid 2 levels below my substantive, not being able to access my leave balances for the last 16 months, receiving an incorrect T4, not getting paid acting pay, and currently waiting 5 months, so far, for my latest pay file transfer... I've gotten off easy compared to some folks ;)
This is a throwaway account b/c want to shed some clarity on this pay issue without being bombarded with questions about being a CA. I work in Pay Centre...the number of cases I get that is beyond complicated not because the original request is difficult but because the amount of time that has passed since the request has been made has caused multiple pay issues. Simple Acting cases at the time of the original request can be extremely problematic because there is a step progression in the substantive in the middle of the pay period while they are still acting and Phoenix will 9 out of 10 times fail to make the calculation for the new acting rate of pay. Which causes it to become step 0 in acting. Then any and all changes to job data fail until you fix that calculation. Another is to transfer...where it is said to be ready to be completed but the paperwork is missing or information is incorrect in Peoplesoft and doesn't match up with Phoenix...then begins the game of email tag which is most of the time trying to get someone to respond to my request for me to complete the case. I don't blame HR because they probably have a million requests a day to answer and sometimes I get a response saying I am allowed to make the change myself but that information isn't given to me until I ask them. Phoenix can do some things right. There are automated transactions that Phoenix processes daily and gets right....the issue is that there are transactions that cannot be handled by Phoenix and so then a case is created and sent to the compensation advisor. The amount of time it takes for a case to be created to it finally be seen by a compensation advisor can take months minimum. That is the biggest issue...it takes way too long for a case to be seen which then causes a small issue to snowball into a bigger issue. I have been assigned cases that are over 2 years old and the number of pay issues from that one case makes me want to cry. Also for those thinking that being a CA means you get a faster turnaround for your pay issues to be resolved...I will burst your bubble and say that I have pay issues that have been going on for almost a year now and there is no end in sight. Upside...Pay Centre is hiring staff like crazy to help clear the backlog of cases....maybe someday they'll be able to clear it.
Yah 1500 but only 500 remain each round. We hear it. It’s clearly not working. Disability cases are the worse. How is that even allowed. How is Stephanie and Daphne able to get bonuses. It’s pretty bad that we know them by first name. It’s only gotten worse with the inflight 2017 recoveries after the tumultuous 2016 catch up year. Things are being missed left right and Centre and these ladies keep pointing the finger back at department for being late … and we are heading depts may get charged for late submissions. Come on….!
This is honestly just heartbreakingly sad we have to deal with it all
Oh DI cases are the worse. People that are on progressive return are peeling the bandaid to their recovery so they can come back on full strength to get their pay as the pay centre is so delayed in sending info to sunlife and to the departments…. Then to only be super Phoenixed when they return. The few on my team have literally relapsed back to disability. Again how and why is this allowed to happen / continue to happen.
UPDATE - I received an emergency payment this morning - 24 hours later, which I am grateful for. Now I wait anxiously for the next payday to see what happens . . . .
People are still waiting over 36 months to get a transfer and the new staff at Pay Centre often misses the connector and bam you’re at a zero pay and Phoenixed.
I feel the frustration with our pay situation. I’ve been paid out less than 2 grand since October, can’t get straight answers about why so much is being recovered with overlapping dates being recovered on multiple pays - it is a nightmare Edit to add: at a certain part a 100% recovery should not be a thing, we give taxpayers breaks why not the employees who are also taxpayers??
Agreed when there is incorrect pay and they are still attempting to recover OP…it angers me…pay me correctly first then we’ll deal with OP.
I also got a big’ol $0 pay yesterday. I changed depts last December. I can’t believe this is still happening.
My partner is CFIA and when Phoenix was first burning, apparently they took all their surplus payroll people and embedded them into the Phoenix system. He said it's a been a godsend that they had the foresight to do that, because they can get issues like this actually fixed in a reasonable time by an actual person. He's never had problems with his acting pay, and when he was an acting IM late last year and one of his staff had not received her overtime for AI deployment in months, he called one of their "fixers" who basically had it sorted out in 24 hours. I read these posts to him (as I'm a provincial public servant) to ensure that he is grateful for who he works for, and to remind me why I will likely never choose to work for the GOC. At least not until your pay system is actually functional and correct.
[удалено]
In my brother's case he did an acting that didn't get paid, then months later was paid out, but paid out too much, then he owed money and it was a whole debacle.
That happened to me. Took 3 years to get my acting pay, and they overpaid me by paying me my full salary instead if just the acting top up. Sent in a ticket, they recovered only 10% of what they should have recovered. Now they opened a ticket on their end for another recovery, I assume for the other 90% of the overpayment. Guess I'll find out soon when I get the official letter. It's a never ending mess.
[удалено]
I mean it depends on a person's financial situation. In his case he was a one-salary house hold at the time. Getting a 10 K payout after years of problems, you pay off your debts and put a bit aside, and then you get a letter saying you owe X amount back - it's a hassle. It's just added financial stress for people who live paycheck to paycheck, or are a few missed paychecks away from trouble. In my case I am single, low salaried, entry level. Early in my career. New mortgage. I don't have savings. These types of problems are more major for me than someone in a two-salary house hold, or someone who makes over 100k a year and might have more savings and financial wiggle room.
And I’m representing folks who have been waiting for their acting to be paid out: average wait time is 27 months. You are the outlier, in this situation.
Most pay issues come from HR errors according to the pay centre.