A single mother had to sell her house in part because of a Canadian government payroll disaster, reports CBC News. Ottawa resident Claire Lavallee was separating from her husband at the same time as she had problems getting paid because of a mamoth government payroll problem.
82,000 public servants reported problems
Thousands of federal government employees began having problems after the new Phoenix payroll system went into effect early in 2016. About 82,000 public servants reported problems such as being overpaid, underpaid or not paid at all for weeks or months because of glitches in the system.
There are still more than 10,000 cases that have not been resolved and the government may have to spend $50 million to resolve the problems.
Lavallee described the turmoil caused by the payroll problems to CBC News.
‘It was absolutely terrible’
Lavallee told CBC news that her difficulties began when she returned to work after paid maternity leave. Her pay was sporadic for about three months and although she received emergency advances, she was unable to pay her bills or mortgage.
She wanted to buy out her husband’s part of the house, but in the end decided to sell it instead. “It was absolutely terrible. It was one of the worst things I’ve ever had to do,” the public servant told CBC News.
While Lavalle finally resolved her pay problems, she is now having trouble claiming out-of-pocket expenses that are allowed to make up for costs associated with the payroll problems.
Maybe no bonuses?
The government has asked the auditor general to examine what went wrong with the implementation of the Phoenix payroll system. Senior public servants responsible for the roll-out of the pay system won’t know whether they will get bonus pay until reviews of the failure are complete.
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