OTTAWA -- A solution is still months away for tens of thousands of civil servants who aren't being paid what they're owed, a high-ranking government official said Monday.

Marie Lemay, the deputy minister of Public Services and Procurement Canada, said several hundred government employees who haven't been paid in months will get their full paycheques -- including back-pay -- on the next payday. But for thousands more who aren't being paid the overtime or "acting pay" they have earned for replacing a more senior employee, the problems are still being sorted out. Others have reported being paid too much.

"The situation is completely unacceptable and we will be working around the clock to resolve these problems as quickly as possible," Lemay said in a briefing with reporters in Ottawa. "It is important that anyone not being paid contact us immediately so that we can help as soon as possible. If an employee's paperwork has not been submitted to our pay centre on time our compensation advisor may not know that that person is missing pay."

The problems stem from the switch to a new system, known as Phoenix. The software had some initial glitches, Lemay said, but the biggest problem was the government didn't set aside enough time to train employees on it. Then when the glitches happened, the problems snowballed.

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Out of 300,000 civil servants on the government payroll, Lemay said that:

  • 720 haven't been paid for their work - of those, 486 will be paid on the next payday;
  • 1,100 are having trouble with salaries during their parental leave, long-term disability or with their severance; and,
  • 80,000 are affected in some way, including being paid too much.

Chris Aylward, a spokesman for the Public Service Alliance of Canada, says it's a very serious problem for his members. PSAC is the biggest public sector union in Canada.

"When you're entitled to an allowance and that forms part of your pay, you expect to see that on your paycheque. And when that is not on your paycheque, then that puts you in financial hardship," Aylward said.

"We know stories where employees have had to get loans from family members, where they're maxing out credit cards. I know of a single mom in Toronto who can't afford to go to work because she can't afford transportation because she's not being paid."

The government has tried to alleviate the problems by adding staff to deal with compensation, but have only 56 people in Gatineau, Que. to handle the 80,000 cases right now. That should rise to 89 staff in the next couple of weeks, and Lemay said she hopes they can get as many as 150 people working on the problems following an agreement with public sector unions to rehire compensation advisers who were previously laid off. Another 590 work at a centre in Miramichi, N.B., where they handle the normal salaries workload.

The government has also authorized emergency payments to help those who are facing serious problems because they aren't being paid properly, and have teams working on compensation for employees who incur late or missed payment fees, Lemay said.

"Right now we're looking at things like penalties for missed loan payments, insufficient funds, late payments. But we're trying to get a more comprehensive approach to see how we can really support the employees on this. So I don't have a timeline for you right now," she said.

Aylward says he hopes his members see their full pay on their next cheques, but said the government has been promising that since the problems surfaced last February. He also disputed the problem was due to a lack of training.

"When they put in what you're entitled for pay and it comes out to $1,000, but Phoenix spits out a cheque for $5.37, how is that a competency or a training issue?" he said.

Lemay said they're working to resolve all the problems as quickly as possible

"I know that our current situation is causing real challenges and financial hardships for employees," she said.