The federal government has settled a class action lawsuit brought by non-unionized and casual public servants affected by the Phoenix pay system fiasco.
The lawsuit sought damages for hardships government employees endured in the beleaguered rollout of Phoenix, claiming that the federal government failed to fulfil its obligations to these workers during this period.
“The Phoenix pay system caused major issues for thousands of federal employees. The Government of Canada was a tough opponent in this case,” said Christian Saraïlis, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs. “However, the negotiations have resulted in a fair and equitable settlement for class members to compensate for the moral damages they endured.”
The Phoenix pay system was plagued by years of reports of errors with public servants’ pay. Ezmie Bouchard, who worked at Passport Canada in 2016, was the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit, which was launched in 2017 and certified by a Quebec judge in 2018. Bouchard claimed that she received $4,800 less than what she should have because of mistakes on her pay cheques. The lawsuit said she was then overpaid and had to repay $1,000 to the government.
Lawyers representing the plaintiffs said each member’s payout from the settlement will be “calculated based on the number of eligible years they worked in one of the affected categories.” The settlement will include casual employees, student staff, term employees (who worked less than three months), part-time employees and employees appointed by the Governor in Council, who worked for the government between February 2016 and March 2020 and had pay problems caused by Phoenix.
As part of the settlement, eligible public servants will be able to claim up to $875, depending on how long they worked for the federal government during the period covered by the lawsuit.
The Treasury Board could not immediately confirm the total amount the settlement was for, and said it is still subject to a judge’s approval.
“The Government of Canada is committed to ensuring that members who worked for the government are paid properly. The settlement provides for individual payments to class members based on the number of eligible fiscal years in which they worked,” the Treasury Board said in a statement.
The class action didn’t cover unionized and permanent employees who were affected by Phoenix issues. But in 2020, Canada’s largest public-sector union, the Public Service Alliance of Canada, reached an agreement with the government that gave 140,000 workers each $2,500 in compensation.
The federal government has been working to clear a massive backlog of issues that continue to persist with the Phoenix pay system, while testing Dayforce as a potential replacement.