Public servant on leave in Paris overpaid $30K — and counting

A senior science advisor on leave from Fisheries and Oceans Canada says he's been overpaid as much as $30,000 due to the fouled-up Phoenix pay system — yet the call centre only has a record of him owing a small fraction of that amount.

For the past six months, Michael Ott says he's been getting paid for a job that he's not even in the country to do.

Ott moved overseas at the end of May for a three-year posting with an international agency. His wife and two sons arrived in July.

It shouldn't take six months for them to fix this- Michael Ott, public servant on leave

Despite the job change, his Canadian paycheques have continued to erroneously show up in his bank account every payday.

"It shouldn't take six months for them to fix this," Ott told CBC News from his family's apartment in Paris.

Since the federal government rolled out its new Phoenix pay system in February, more than 80,000 public servants have been underpaid, overpaid or not paid at all.  As of the most recent payday, 18,000 cases that are complicated and for the most part pre-date Phoenix remained unsolved.

While some public servants are racking up debt and maxing out credit cards to get by, Ott has been putting aside every penny the federal government is mistakenly paying him.

Agents at the Phoenix call centre keep telling him he only owes $6,000, he said. That's $24,000 less than Ott calculates he's been overpaid. 

"I'm more worried about the fact that in six weeks, if I haven't paid it back, it's going to be a mess on my tax return," said Ott. "Especially since I've left the country."

• CBC Ottawa's full Phoenix Falling coverage
• Most federal payroll claims still taking too long to process, deputy minister says
• Phoenix by the numbers: costs, staffing, case backlog

Between 70 to 80 per cent of the time, public servants are not getting their pay issues resolved within the government's 20-day service standard, according to Marie Lemay, the deputy minister in charge of Phoenix.

That percentage rings true for Ott, who said his director's executive assistant in Ottawa flagged his problem early this past summer. Ott also called the Phoenix call centre three times to tell the government to stop paying him.

For the past month, however, his case has gone nowhere.

'No accountability'

The government set up a call centre in Toronto to pick up the phones and triage issues so that employees at the Pay Centre in Miramichi and four new satellite offices can focus on processing cases. 

It's the only number public servants can dial to flag their pay issues to the government.

But Ott said he learned on Tuesday that the call centre doesn't have access to any of his records, or even notes on his past phone calls.

There's no accountability, there's no traceability- Michael Ott, public servant on leave

"It is shocking to me that a system would be set up such that the call centre has no access to the information they themselves enter into the system and send along to Phoenix," said Ott. 

Ott said the call centre doesn't have any information that can help him understand what's happening with his case, and doesn't appear to be tracking his efforts to fix the problem.

"There's no accountability, there's no traceability," he said.

Ott added he's lost confidence that any of issues are actually being passed on to the pay advisors who can solve his problem. He doesn't want to pay back the government until they stop paying him — otherwise, he'll have to keep writing cheque after cheque to pay back the correct amount.

"With how messed up Phoenix is, it's just going to be another level of complication for me to pay more than once," said Ott, noting he's confident pay advisors do know the true amount he's overpaid. 

"I want this done before the T4s get printed."

CRA anticipating Phoenix issues

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has been gearing up to deal with workers who have been underpaid or overpaid due to Phoenix pay problems.

At the most recent technical briefing about the government's efforts to resolve pay issues on Nov. 16, the CRA said it's working with Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) "to mitigate any impact on employees."

"I would like to reassure federal public service employees that the CRA has put significant effort in anticipating the potential impacts that could arise from Phoenix payroll errors," said Randy Hewlett, acting director general for the Income Tax Rulings Directorate.

The CRA has launched a Phoenix hotline for any questions public servants have about their taxes. The agency has also posted answers to frequently asked questions online.

PSPC is expected to provide an update on the Phoenix pay issues as early as next week.