The cost rising from the ashes of the failed Phoenix pay system for federal employees has risen to more than $2 billion dollars, says Blacklock’s Reporter..About 175,000 federal employees have received compensation over payroll errors, said a Department of Public Works briefing note..“Flexible measures have been put in place to help minimize financial hardships for employees,” said the June 21 briefing note.Staff detailed ongoing expenses of the bungled Phoenix Pay System that has cost taxpayers $2.1 billion to date. Total costs of the failed software program are expected to reach $2.6 billion, according to the Parliamentary Budget Office..The public works department said offers of up to $2,500 “for general damages and compensation” were claimed by a majority of federal workers..“Approximately 175,000 employees received this lump sum payment,” the equivalent of $437,500,000..The payouts were separate from additional claims for mental anguish, said the briefing note..“Claims for severe or more personal or financial impacts could include financial losses, mental anguish or other impacts attributed to Phoenix Pay issues,” wrote staff..“Employees who took sick leave or other types of paid or unpaid leave because of an illness stemming from pay issues may also be eligible to apply for compensation.”.The Phoenix Pay System was launched in 2016 on a promise of savings by streamlining forty-six separate federal payroll departments dating from the 1970s. Phoenix instead garbled pay for most employees, 62%, and resulted in numerous audits and parliamentary investigations that faulted managers for launching the program without adequate testing. No manager was fired..“We saw how that didn’t work, to the great detriment of our public servants,” Digital Government Minister Joyce Murray earlier told reporters..“We’re going to take this step by step. It’s an open process, very inclusive. We’re involving the users, the public servants who will be paid by the system.”.“We will always have respect for taxpayer dollars. We also have a great deal of respect for our hardworking public servants. They have had a very difficult time with the pay system over the last few years.”.The Treasury Board in 2019 reached an agreement with the largest federal union, the Public Service Alliance of Canada, to compensate employees for Phoenix-related damages including bankruptcy, “trauma or other personal hardship,” interest paid on loans, mortgages and credit card balances due to pay errors, “significant impacts on credit ratings” and up to five days’ leave..Access To Information records showed the Phoenix Pay System was so mismanaged it couldn’t read decimal points, incorrectly billed some employees for provincial health premiums and paid casual employees at hourly rates that differed from what they were quoted..The Department of Public Works briefing note said all payroll issues should be resolved by December 31, 2022..Dave Naylor is the News Editor of the Western Standard.,dnaylor@westernstandardonline.com,.Twitter.com/nobby7694
