Single mom calls Phoenix payroll claims mess a 'vicious circle'
Public servant says she went months without proper pay, now fighting to claim penalty charges
Ottawa resident Claire Lavallee was separating from her husband when she got caught in the federal government's Phoenix payroll fiasco.
The combination of events put her in such a dire financial situation, she says, she had no choice but to sell her family home.
"It was absolutely terrible. It was one of the worst things I've ever had to do," the public servant told CBC News during an interview in her new apartment.
- 10,000 cases remain in Phoenix backlog, cost could rise above $50M
- All Parks Canada student workers caught in Phoenix pay fiasco
More than 80,000 public servants have been underpaid, overpaid, or not paid at all since Ottawa rolled out its new Phoenix payroll program.
Lavallee, 28, said her problems began when she returned to work in April following a year-long maternity leave.
The mother of two said she went a month with no pay before getting a partial emergency salary advance.
The sporadic pay continued for about three months, and included another two emergency advances. But the help wasn't enough and she found herself unable to keep up with her bills, including the mortgage. She says she also maxed out her credit cards.
Making the situation even more complicated, Lavallee was supposed to buy out her ex-husband's half of the family home.
She realized that wasn't going to be possible when she was filling out paperwork to complete the deal.
"I arrive at the notary and they say, 'You need to pay us $3,000,' and I wasn't able to because I hadn't been paid in 10½ weeks," Lavallee said.
She became even more frustrated when she couldn't get answers from the government pay centre about when her case would be resolved.
"I'm sitting at my work, sitting at my desk at work crying, because no one can give me an answer."
Lavallee said her problems were eventually sorted out, and she was paid what she was owed by September, five months after her return to work.
Backlog of 10,000 cases remains
Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) has been working to resolve issues with Phoenix, after launching the system earlier this year. But it doesn't release information on what happened in individual cases.
The government has hired more than 200 compensation advisors for satellite offices across the country to clear the backlog. It has also opened a call centre in Toronto with more than 100 agents to assist public servants.
During a briefing held on Dec.14, PSPC confirmed 95 per cent of the backlog had been cleared, with about 10,000 cases left to be resolved.
Marie Lemay, the deputy minister of PSPC, admits progress has been "slow," and blames delays on the complex nature of the outstanding cases in the backlog.
The department has said the remaining problems are taking so long to deal with, because the cases existed before Phoenix was launched.
Mom says there are more challenges
Lavallee says she now is facing a new Phoenix-related challenge.
In September, she says, she submitted an out-of-pocket expense claim for the interest fees and penalty charges she racked up when she wasn't able to pay her bills.
The government has promised to reimburse public servants for those kinds of expenses.
"I followed the guidelines. I gathered all of my information and submitted it all at once," Lavallee said.
But the statements she was given by her bank to use as proof of hardship were not enough for the government to approve her claim of more than $1,000.
"So it's like I'm stuck in this vicious circle, where I can't get any more information, [and] the information I have isn't good enough."
Lavallee said that as a single mom, $1,000 makes a significant difference in her budget, especially around the holidays.
"It's the difference between like, having a stocking for my kids for Christmas, and having the toys that they would like."
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
