Archived: Important message to employees regarding pay: January 17, 2017

On Wednesday, January 11, I provided an update on our progress in resolving public service pay issues.

Since our last update, we have continued to focus on eliminating our backlog, addressing issues with tax implications and resolving priority pay issues as they are reported to us.

Tax implications

Over the last month, we have been working diligently to address the issue of overpayments so that we can minimize their impact on taxes. Our goal is to prevent all overpayments from appearing on T4s, but, in the event that we are unable to process all these cases before T4s are issued, employees will receive amended T4s. Employees who believe they have been overpaid should contact our Call Centre immediately so we can ensure their cases are handled as priority.

As of January 11, more detailed pay stubs are now available in the Compensation Web Applications. In addition to the details already provided on current pay stubs, the new format provides employees with a breakdown of earning details.

By mid-February, this detailed information will be available for all payments received in 2016 so employees will have all the information they need to verify that their taxable earnings are correct.

Our Call Centre will also be fully prepared to help employees with questions related to taxes and their earnings.

Backlog progress

We continue to work toward the elimination of our backlog.

We are working hard to close remaining transactions as quickly as we can, but we are dealing with old files that predate Phoenix. We are facing challenges with the remaining cases in the backlog, but we are working very hard to get through them as quickly as possible.

Given our ongoing work on the backlog, we are not yet able to direct all our resources toward the prompt processing of incoming pay transactions. As I have mentioned before, we are not meeting our established service standards, which are 20 working days for most transactions. Transactions are being processed, but they are not moving as quickly as we would like. Once the backlog is addressed and additional system enhancements are implemented, we expect to speed up our processing times and see a gradual return to our service standards.

In the new year

I want to remind employees that, at the beginning of each new taxation year, their net pay is usually lower than their last pay at the end of the previous year. This change results from many employees beginning to pay Canada Pension Plan or Québec Pension Plan and Employment Insurance premiums in the new year, which will stop after they have reached the maximum level of contributions.

As well, a first portion of retroactive payments were paid last week to Canada Revenue Agency employees as part of their new collective agreement, with the rest to come over the next two pay periods.

We have also successfully processed 2017 charitable campaign payroll deductions for employees who contributed through electronic pledging or paper-based pledges received before January 2.

Thank you for your continued patience and understanding.

Marie Lemay, P.Eng., ing.
Deputy Minister
Public Services and Procurement Canada