A former Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) employee who had to take early retirement to care for his ailing wife is experiencing a real financial test after the Phoenix payroll system lost him money at a bad time.
“Phoenix screwed up my pay for my last two years of work before I retired. Phoenix swallowed my last paycheck when I retired. Phoenix cut my pension in half,” says the Canada Revenue Agency retiree on condition of anonymity.
“Phoenix has destroyed my finances and my credits. I’m always on the last penny,” sighs the man, angry at his former employer.
In federal jargon, the word “phoenix” has nothing to do with the name given to a magnificent bird, a pay system developed by IBM that caused some federal government employees to lose their paychecks.
Yesterday, however, one of them bared his heart to tell of his bitter, never-ending ordeal.
After 30 years at CRA, he found it difficult to retire because of the many failures of the Phoenix payroll system.
Two years before he retired, he decided to continue working three days a week to care for his ailing wife in a wheelchair.
“She fell often. I had to take several hours out of my sick leave to help her,” he says.
“She was on the oxygen machine. She couldn’t do anything anymore. I did everything,” he breathes.
In order to stay with her, he announced his gradual retirement to the CRA, remaining in office a few days a week.
This is where the problems with the Phoenix payroll system begin.
“At one point, bang! I got half salary, then three-quarters salary, another for three days. It was hell,” he recalled.
“When I retired, there was no pay. My last two weeks of work were unpaid. I had to take out a loan,” he continues.
To make matters worse, Phoenix creates a “fake loan of $10,000” for him. Despite a proposal with the CRA, we continue to butcher our checks.
“This system keeps chewing up my tax refunds and retroactive raises,” he says.
After four online complaints to the CRA, three letters to the minister and one demand letter, he finally received an apology letter saying his loan was written off.
Joined by NewspaperCanada Revenue Agency could not respond to questions yesterday Register.
Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) could not say how many complaints it has received from Quebecers on the matter because the department “does not track wage movements by geographic region.”
