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Have you been impacted by Phoenix?

PSAC’s mission is to defend and support federal public service workers. Nobody knows better than we do how hard you work for Canadians. That’s why PSAC has worked hard to secure support for those impacted by Phoenix. Know your rights—and access the support you deserve.

T4/Tax issues

For information about income tax and/or government benefit and credit implications of certain situations related to your personal income tax, visit: Frequently Asked Questions – 2018 Tax Implications of Phoenix payroll issues

PSAC continues to push for, and won, a change to tax legislation that would put an end to gross payback for overpayments. The proposed tax legislation permits Phoenix affected employees to repay their employer only the net amount of the overpayment received in a previous year, rather than the gross amount (including taxes, CPP, and EI).

Reimbursement for tax services

If you have experienced pay issues you are eligible for a reimbursement of up to $200 for tax advice services.

To file a claim, complete this online form.

More information can be found at Claims for expenses and financial losses due to Phoenix: reimbursement for tax advice.

Report Incorrect Pay

If your pay is being administered from within your department, agency or organization, use the procedures outlined by them.

If your pay is being administered by the pay centre in Miramichi, follow these four steps:

1. Carefully document the problems you are having.

2. Speak to your manager and Human Resources contact in your department

Your section 34 manager needs to ensure all documentation has been correctly submitted If any errors or lapsed actions are found, your manager should submit a pay action request (PAR) on your behalf.

 

For more details, click here.

Follow up with your manager and the HR contact in your department to ensure they are taking all the necessary action required from them. Once your PAR is received by the Pay Centre, you can track its progress by using the Track myCASE web application.

4. Follow up

3. Report your problem to the pay centre

If no corrective action is available at the department level, you need to report the problem to the pay centre. There are two ways to do this: submit an online form or contact the call centre at 855‑686‑4729 (506-424-4330 if you are outside of the US or Canada)

 

Emergency Pay

Who is eligible?

If you receive no pay, you have been underpaid or you are missing entitlements, such as overtime, acting pay, northern allowance, and allowances mandated by the Collective Agreement, you are entitled to receive either a Priority Pay (PP) or an Emergency Salary Advance (ESA).

Priority payments can be used when there is a disruption of pay for an existing employee. Emergency salary advances provide new employees, and employees returning from leave without pay, an advance on their pay until their pay file in Phoenix can be brought up-to-date.

 

Recovery should not begin until the following criteria has been met:

All monies owed to the employee have been paid out. The employee experiences three stable pay periods. A reasonable repayment plan has been agreed to by the employee.

How do I apply?

Speak to your section 34 manager.

No employee should be without access to their pay. If you are denied a Priority Pay or an ESA, contact the PSAC representative in your work place and report the problem through the Phoenix feedback form.

Recoveries

Recovery of ESA and priority pay will now be treated the same as the recovery of overpayments, and will have the same flexibility under the new directive in the Terms and Conditions of Employment.

PSAC strongly urges its members who are accessing emergency pay to speak to their section 34 manager about the changes to how recovery will be done for ESA and priority pay.

No Pay

You should immediately report that you have not received any pay. Follow the steps above under “Report incorrect pay”.

If needed, you can apply for a Priority Pay or an Emergency Salary Advance. See “Emergency Pay” above for further information on this.

Underpaid

You should immediately report that you have not received your full pay. Follow the steps above under “Report incorrect pay”.

If needed, you are eligible to apply for a Priority Pay or an Emergency Salary Advance if you have been underpaid. See “Emergency Pay” above for further information on this.

Overpaid

When overpayments are discovered, employees will be notified in writing. However, recovery should not begin until the following criteria has been met:

1. All monies owed to the employee has been paid out.

2. The employee experiences three stable pay periods.

3. A reasonable repayment plan has been agreed to by the employee.

PSAC pushed for, and won, a change to tax legislation that would put an end to gross payback for overpayments. The proposed tax legislation permits Phoenix affected employees to repay their employer only the net amount of the overpayment received in a previous year, rather than the gross amount (including taxes, CPP, and EI).

Missing Entitlements

You should immediately report that are missing entitlements from your paycheque. Follow the steps above under “Report incorrect pay”.

Employees are entitled to a Priority Pay or ESA for missing entitlements, including overtime, acting pay, northern allowance, allowances mandated by the collective agreement.

Please note this does not apply to retro pay owed to you because of the signing of your collective agreement.

Compensation for out-of-pocket expenses

You are eligible to make a claim if you have incurred out-of-pocket expenses because of Phoenix pay problems. Such expenses include, banking fees for non-sufficient funds (NSF), financial penalty charges, interest charges, etc.

To file a claim, complete this online form.

Make sure to keep a copy of the claim form for your records, as well as all of your receipts and/or appropriate documentation.

Departments and agencies have assigned claims officers to help you with this process. You can find the contact information for your department’s claims officer here.

If the employer denies your claim, you have the right to file a grievance. Please contact the PSAC representative in your workplace, or your Component.

See also:

Claims for expenses and financial losses due Phoenix: claim out-of-pocket expenses

Frequently Asked Questions on the Government of Canada-Wide Claims Process

Grievances

You have the right to be paid correctly and on-time and, if you are not, you have the right to file a grievance. If you follow the advice we’ve provided for reporting incorrect pay, in most cases filing a grievance will be unlikely to speed up the process of having your pay issue corrected. However, filing a grievance is still an important procedural step that protects your right to have the dispute resolved by the Federal Public Service Labour Relations and Employment Board.

We especially encourage members experiencing serious pay problems (ongoing disruption of regular pay) to file grievances to protect their rights.

Phoenix has led to the peculiar circumstance where the employer may acknowledge a pay issue, in other words the employer grants an employee’s grievance, but the inaccurate pay is not immediately corrected. If the employer agrees that you have been paid incorrectly and grants your grievance, we will take steps to ensure that your rights are preserved while your pay issue is being resolved. This is called holding the grievance in abeyance.

If you have incurred an out-of-pocket expense as a result of pay problems you have experienced, the Treasury Board claims process outlined above provides a system for claiming reimbursement and a grievance is not initially required. If the employer denies your claim you have the right to file a grievance concerning your claim at that stage.

Maternity/Parental leave

Due to recent court action taken by PSAC and other unions, the government was ordered to provide better access to help for Phoenix affected employees on disability, maternity, and parental leave.

Going on leave

Federal public service workers who are transitioning to maternity/parental leave, and are not receiving benefit payments due to Phoenix, are entitled to a Priority Payment if normal wait times for processing benefit payments have been exceeded. This includes 66% of the total income you would otherwise receive, not just the top up portion. Speak to your manager to access a priority pay or send them the following email:

Dear Manager (insert name and email address):

On (xxx date) I went onto approved (maternity or parental) leave. It has now been (xx) days since that leave began, and the necessary paperwork to allow my Employment Insurance claim to be processed has not been generated by the Phoenix pay system.

Please immediately process a request for emergency or priority pay reflecting my full salary entitlement, as I currently find myself in circumstances of financial hardship, as per paragraph three of the letter sent to our department by Ms. Yaprak Baltacioglu, Secretary of the Treasury Board on March 23, 2017, in compliance with the order of the Federal Court dated December 22, 2016.

Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter which critically impacts my financial circumstances.

Retuning from leave

Meet with your manager/supervisor prior to your return to confirm all authorizations are entered into the system and processed before you return to work.

Access your department’s HR software to confirm all necessary entries/updates have been completed.

Disability leave

Because of the court action taken by PSAC and other unions, the government was ordered to provide better access to help for Phoenix affected employees on disability, maternity, and parental leave.

Phoenix has caused delays in disability insurance (DI) payments because information from the employer has not been sent to SunLife to complete the DI application process. SunLife has told PSAC that they cannot process DI claims until they have all of the information.

At the urging of the union, special measures have been put in place to address the Phoenix-related backlog of DI claims.

Special arrangements have been put in place with Sun Life to fast-track your claim if you are experiencing Phoenix problems. If you are awaiting DI and the following circumstances apply, immediately inform your manager.

1. you are experiencing financial hardship

2. your Employer Statement/Record of Employment is delayed

3. you have completed the 13-week waiting period or you have used up all banked sick leave (whichever is longer)

4. you are not already receiving EI benefits

Your manager and departmental HR unit will then determine the course of action. They will take into consideration the option that up to six months may be paid by Sun Life s in advance of your completed claim adjudication, provided the insurer has received your Employee Statement and your Attending Physician Statement.

Employees who are on a graduated return to work are also experiencing problems receiving pay because Sun Life isn’t receiving the information they need to make partial payments in a timely fashion.

If you are experiencing financial hardship you may also apply for a Priority Pay. Speak to your manager or send them the following email:

Dear Manager (insert name and email address):

On (xxx date) I went onto approved disability leave. It has now been (xx) days since that leave began, and the necessary paperwork to allow my disability claim to be processed has not been generated by the Phoenix pay system.

Please immediately process a request for emergency or priority pay reflecting my full salary entitlement, as I currently find myself in circumstances of financial hardship, as per paragraph three of the letter sent to our department by Ms. Yaprak Baltacioglu, Secretary of the Treasury Board on March 23, 2017, in compliance with the order of the Federal Court dated December 22, 2016.

Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter which critically impacts my financial circumstances.

Returning from leave

Meet with your manager/supervisor prior to your return to confirm all authorizations are entered into the system and processed before you return to work. Access your department’s HR software to confirm all necessary entries/updates have been completed.

Please see the Disability Insurance section of the PSAC website for more information or contact di-ai@psac-afpc.com.

Membership in good standing

Phoenix has impacted PSAC records and we can no longer be sure that our membership information is currently accurate.

You can help us by requesting that your status be corrected on the PSAC website: psacunion.ca/migs

Reduced or missing government benefits

If you received an overpayment, this may have resulted in the reduction of your government benefits or credits, such as the Canada child benefit. You are eligible for an interest free advance for missing or reduced benefits.

To file a claim, complete this online form.

Departments and agencies have assigned claims officers to help you with this process. You can find the contact information for your department’s claims officer here.

More information can be found at Claims for expenses and financial losses due to Phoenix: request an advance for government benefits.

Can't find what you are looking for?

Get in touch with our Pay Issue Specialists by submitting a general inquiries form. Select Phoenix pay issue from the What is your inquiry about? drop down menu. A member of our team will contact you.

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September 26, 2019