Agreement applies to roughly 175,000 current and 45,000 former employees
The federal government has launched a claims process to compensate employees represented by the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) who suffered severe personal or financial impacts as a result of issues with the Phoenix pay system.
Claims could include financial costs and lost investment income, mental anguish or other personal impacts.
Employees who took sick leave or other types of paid or unpaid leave because of an illness stemming from pay issues could also be eligible.
PSAC members are eligible if they incurred severe damages between April 1, 2016 and March 31, 2020. Certain employees are not eligible, such as those involved in a class action, students, casual employees, and part-time employees.
“Depending on the type of claim, a minimum threshold of $1,500 may apply. This means that you are eligible for compensation if the total amount of your claim exceeds $1,500. This minimum threshold will only be applied once for all claims submitted through this process,” says the PSAC.
Back in January, Ottawa launched a new claims process to compensate employees for the Phoenix pay system, but this did not apply to employees covered by a damages agreement between the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS) and the PSAC.
In December 2019, the federal government launched a process allowing former employees to request general compensation for damages caused by Phoenix.
The agreement applies to roughly 175,000 current and 45,000 former employees paid through the Phoenix pay system. It also extends to the estates of deceased employees.
The government and PSAC are also working together to ensure retired and former PSAC members are compensated as quickly as possible for general damages caused by Phoenix.
“Today's launch is another important step in providing this compensation, and we will continue to work closely with PSAC to implement the remaining element of this damages agreement by the end of the year," says Fortier.
In July, Ottawa announced it is expanding the pilot initiative for the Next Generation HR and Pay program. Back in March 2020, the federal government selected SAP for the pilot program.
