Phoenix Pay System - Shit's Horrible

[dapaterson]

They fell hook , line and sinker for the shiny presentations.

And hired just enough consultants to blame them when it went awry, but not enough to do the job properly.

 

[dapaterson]

So the minister for PSPC is sending out a letter to all members of the Public Service, apologizing in advance of an OAG report on Monday.

Interestingly,  the number of outstanding cases is suddenly 520k, not the 260k previously reported.

Were I not short over $10k and increasing with every pay, I might find it funny.  But my sense of haha is gone.

The government may have inadvertently revived the otherwise sedentary organized labour organizations with this colossal collection of foul ups.


EDIT:  Add link: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/letter-pubilc-servants-minister-apologize-phoenix-1.4405943

 

[meni0n]

I'm in the same boat. With the way things are going, I'm going to start looking for work somewhere else, I'm getting into debt with every pay. This  month what they owe me increased by 2100$. That's just one month...

 

[dapaterson]

My $10K is $6K - outstanding retro pay; $2K - excess pension contributions from 2016; and $2K - five months of underpayment.


I'm looking forward to writing my letter to CRA "My apologies, I need to amend my 2016 tax filing.  I now owe you taxes on 2K that I shouldn't have deducted (since my employer took it and put it into the pension plan and reported it on my T4, even though I warned them months in advance that I was hitting my maximum time in the plan).  Unfortunately, my employer isn't smart enough to pay me back or issue me a new T4; what's your SOP in this situation?"

 

[Loachman]

One would actually expect some sympathy, nein? They are fellow victims too.

 

[dapaterson]

Yes, but then the inevitable questions about "How can you be 47 years old with 35 years of pensionable service" begin, and I'm off down that rabbit hole again.

 

[Loachman]

You're one of Romeo Dallaire's favourite ex-child soldiers and he's taking a special interest in your case?

 

[Colin Parkinson]

Not amused at the political finger pointing. The CPC started this ball rolling and the Liberals picked it up and ran with it, knowing it was a stinking pile of crap. They should be doing a joint "we are sorry" rather than than blaming each other.

 

[dapaterson]

You're one of Romeo Dallaire's favourite ex-child soldiers and he's taking a special interest in your case?

Not quite... simultaneous CFSA Part I and PSSA service means that for one eight year stretch each calendar year counted as two years of pensionable service.  No one in Pensions or Pay knows quite what to do with me.


I did have a nice chat with CRA today.  "Don't worry about it.  Just wait for the employer to sort things out.  Don't try to get ahead of them, since if they don't update your records before you re-file your taxes, someone in audit might flag the discrepancy and you'll have to explain in detail why you're trying to pay more tax."

They are still awaiting direction on how to handle late payment fees and penalties; they know that they will be waived, but don't know if the waiver request will be done by PSPC for all affected people, or if each person will have to request an individual waiver.

 

[SeaKingTacco]

Handy that all CRA employees are in the same boat too, huh?

 

[dapaterson]

Except separate agencies like Elections and CRA kept their own compensation staff (who use Phoenix).  So they aren't triaged in New Brunswick by inexperienced staff who have little grounding in compensation.  And they can actually speak to a real person and not go through PAR forms, a help desk that can only send an email on your behalf, or any of the other frustrations that those served by the New and Improved Pay Transformation Initiative enjoy.

 

[dapaterson]

PSPC reports annually on their performance - you can see the page about Pay & Pensions at: https://www.tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca/sc-cs/nsnnnr-ossr/rapports-reports/page-4-eng.html

So, let's see how they're doing...

• Upon receipt of completed documentation from clients, the Public service Pay centre will resolve complex inquiries within 20 business days – Deleted
  
• Public Service and Procurement Canada (PSPC) cost per account to administer pay systems and associated processes for all Government of Canada employees (back office) – Deleted
  
• PSPC cost per account to deliver Pay centre services – Deleted

That's right - all the indicators that might show how badly things are going in terms of quality and cost have been Deleted from their scorecard. 

How's that ministerial commitment to transparency and openness going?

 

[daftandbarmy]

Meanwhile, at the Auditor General's Office:

Audit Report's a comin'......

http://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/columnists/bagnall-with-ags-report-on-phoenix-pay-system-looming-has-government-actually-learned-any-lessons

 

[dapaterson]

http://www.oag-bvg.gc.ca/internet/English/parl_oag_201711_01_e_42666.html

My favourite:

We found that Public Services and Procurement Canada was not tracking errors in pay and did not know how many outstanding pay requests were pay errors that needed to be corrected. The Department told us that the causes and sources of errors are so varied, it is unreasonable to expect it to track and measure them.

 

[PuckChaser]

When are the EX level pubic servants going to start being held accountable? There should be a house cleaning of everyone at the top who touched this file and f'd it off.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

LOL an EX getting disciplined or held accountable for a project they managed? Surely you jest, that might lead to an precedent of accountability.

 

[dapaterson]

I've come up with a solution to the Phoenix fiasco.  I call it "The Montreal Solution":

1.  Stop paying the public service completely.

2.  Permit them to extract as much graft and bribery as the market will bear instead.

 

[jollyjacktar]

Bruce MacKinnon cartoon on the subject.

http://thechronicleherald.ca/editorial-cartoon/2017-11-23-editorial-cartoon

 

[dapaterson]

So, according to this morning's pay stub, I am no longer being paid a rate of pay that doesn't exist that's less than my proper rate of pay.

Now, I am being paid a rate of pay that doesn't exist that's more than my proper rate of pay.

 

[Gunner98]

If Phoenix was designed to ensure everyone was paid in the same manner, then it is truly failing because the last report said only 50% of the people in the Public Service have had pay issues. Surely it should screw up everyone's pay at least once.

Just a few reminders - http://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/federal-government-rolls-out-new-pay-system

Its original goal was, "... save millions in overpayments to Canada’s public servants and speed up processing that has caused pay glitches and delays", say officials at Public Services and Procurement.

"Phoenix is also the last of the two-stage “pay transformation” that the previous Conservative government initiated in 2009 when it decided to put the pay centre in Miramichi, N.B., as a trade-off for jobs lost when it closed the long-gun registry."

"Despite the delays, she said the project won’t exceed its $300 million budget. It is expected to save $70 million a year beginning this year."

The reality: http://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/outstanding-transactions-at-phoenix-pay-centre-surpass-500-000-says-minister-1.3681382 "The government has so far earmarked $400 million to fix the system and to deal with the existing pay backlog, partly by hiring more pay administrators at centres in Quebec and New Brunswick. But Qualtrough said in an interview aired last weekend that she could not guarantee the amount wouldn't reach $1 billion."

Just Wow!