Government of Canada reimbursing financial costs and paying interest as part of Phoenix Damages Agreement 

From: Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat

News release

February 5, 2020 – Ottawa, Ontario – Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat

All public servants deserve to be properly paid for their work. The Government of Canada continues to work tirelessly to address all issues related to the Phoenix pay system.

In recognition of the financial impacts that the Phoenix pay system has had on public servants, the Government of Canada is launching today a claims process by which eligible employees, current and former, can request compensation for severe financial costs and lost investment income.

This is another element of the Phoenix Damages Agreement co-developed with federal public service unions in June, 2019 to compensate more than 140,000 individuals who worked in organizations using Phoenix.

The claims process will help individuals who cashed in investments such as RRSPs, missed opportunities to earn interest on savings accounts, or experienced delays in receiving their severance, pension or pay and were not able to earn interest on those sums. It complements existing measures implemented in 2016 to reimburse those who incurred out-of-pocket expenses or financial losses due to Phoenix pay issues.

The Treasury Board Secretariat continues to work in collaboration with bargaining agents to implement the remaining elements of the joint agreement, namely additional compensation for those who experienced severe personal or financial hardship, and those who took leave for health reasons related to Phoenix issues.

Quotes

“Our public servants deserve to be paid properly for their important work. We are determined to provide fair compensation to employees and former employees who suffered severe financial losses because of issues resulting from the Phoenix pay system.”

      - The Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, President of the Treasury Board 

Quick facts

  • The damages agreement provides compensation to employees, former employees and the estates of deceased employees, for fiscal years 2016‑17 to 2019‑20. 

  • There are two types of compensation in the agreement: general compensation for damages and compensation for severe impacts and other demonstrable cases. 

  •  General compensation in the form of annual leave was allocated to eligible current public servants over the summer of 2019, and a process was launched in November 2019 to enable former public servants to file claims for general compensation.

  • The agreement applies to employees whose bargaining agents have signed the agreement, unrepresented employees, executives and those employees who are in a position that is excluded from the bargaining agent who have signed the agreement.

  • The agreement does not apply to members represented by bargaining agents who did not sign the agreement or to members of the class action as certified in Bouchard c. Procureur Général du Canada (200-06-000214-174) and any other member of the class that could be added by the courts, including students, casual employees, workers working no more than one third of regular hours, and employees with terms of less than three months.

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Contacts

Karl W. Sasseville
Director of Communications and Issues Management
Office of the President of the Treasury Board
613-369-3170

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Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat
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Email: media@tbs-sct.gc.ca

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