Ottawa says it has winnowed down the backlog of federal salary problems related to the controversial Phoenix payment software to 22,000 from about 82,000 and is plowing ahead with eliminating the list. However, it won’t give a deadline.
“I know how disappointing this situation is for those still experiencing pay issues,” Marie Lemay, deputy minister
of Public Services and Procurement Canada, said Tuesday. “We desperately wanted to reach our target, and we will continue to work tirelessly to close the remaining cases as quickly as we can. These will be handled by a dedicated team of expert compensation advisors in Miramichi,(Que).”
The government had hoped to eliminate the backlog by Monday. However, Lemay acknowledged that despite throwing resources at the problem — the processing rate has doubled since May — her department is still not processing pay transactions quickly as it hoped.
“We are currently developing a structured plan to ensure we are making the best use of our compensation resources so that we will consistently meet our service standards,” she said .