The Phoenix HR & Pay System will be remembered as the costliest IT blunder in federal government history. Since its adoption, CAPE has been actively advocating for the complete replacement of the Phoenix HR & Pay System in consultation with the labour union community.
The Phoenix HR & Pay System was meant to replace a 40-year-old pay system the Canadian government, at the time, deemed costly and ineffective. Soon after its rollout in 2015, the system proved to be critically flawed and ineffective. As summarized in the Auditor General’s report 2018, and well documented in the Goss Gilroy report, the Phoenix HR & Pay System was an incomprehensible failure on all fronts. Its failures caused serious financial hardship and stress to thousands of federal public service employees. A majority of the pay problems experienced by CAPE members have been in violation of their collective agreement and the Financial Administration Act.
CAPE has been advocating for the government to compensate its members for the financial losses and mental hardship caused by the Phoenix failures.
Need help?
If you are having issues with your pay, we suggest you follow these steps to get your case addressed.
Step 1. It is your responsibility to verify and follow up with the employer on pay issues.
You can go to “My Pay”, the Pay Centre or your compensation team.
Step 2. If issues continue after your efforts and due diligence (e.g. wrong level of pay, wrong classification, missing pay, etc.), we can speak to Labour Relations and/or file a grievance to have Labour Relations and compensation team address the issues.
For critical cases of:
1. no pay
2. termination of employment and no severance paid after two months
3. severe personal or financial hardship
Please contact your Compensation Advisor and also CAPE at general@acep-cape.ca.
Other cases:
- If overpayments result in fiscal issues, it is up to you to resolve them with CRA – no financial or tax information can be provided by CAPE.
- If there are issues with the administration of overpayments and claw back (i.e. you did not get notice or information of the amounts owed prior to the start date for claw back) we can try to assist you by contacting your Compensation Advisor or Labour Relations in your department.
- Missing retro-pay: we were informed by the pay centre that all of CAPE’s members would have received the retro-pay by September 2021. If that is not your case, please proceed as steps 1 and 2 above.
For more information about other Phoenix-related issues, please visit the employer's website.
Updates
- February 21, 2023 - CAPE advocates for its members at CLC Lobby Day
- February 11, 2022 – EC Interpretive Aid – MOU on automatic payment of excess leave
- February 11, 2022 – TR Interpretive Aid – MOU on automatic payment of excess leave
- December 23, 2021 - Deadline enforced to dispute Phoenix claim decision
- December 17, 2021 - CAPE signs MOU with TBS regarding the automatic payment of excess leave for EC and TR members related to Phoenix delays
- November 19, 2021 - Phoenix: Adjustment to Automatic Leave Cash Out
- March 8, 2021 - Deal reached with the TBS regarding damages caused by the Phoenix Pay System
- March 6, 2020 – SAP, a German software, is chosen from a short list to test a replacement for the Phoenix pay system.
- February 7, 2021 - CAPE Members Can Now File Claims for Financial Costs and Investment Losses Caused by Phoenix
- June 12, 2019 – Three companies are competing to replace Phoenix: Ceridian, SAP and Workday.
- June 12, 2019 – CAPE joins 16 other labour unions to sign an agreement about Phoenix damages. For CAPE, the agreement only applies to EC et TR members.
- May 17, 2019 – CAPE accepts government offer to compensate members for Phoenix damages.
- 2019 – CAPE joins the Next Generation HR and Pay Joint Union Management Committee.
