Joanne Nemec Osmond’s trial is the latest in a catastrophe surrounding an automated payroll system that has left the country’s 200,000 civil servants overpaid, underpaid – or unpaid at all. The system, known as Phoenix, was developed by IBM. The Globe and Mail reported earlier this year that since the initial contract of C $ 5.8 million (US $ 4.5 million) was signed in 2011, it has been modified 50 times and the cost has risen to C $ 650 million. “stabilization” efforts continue. When the government launched Phoenix in 2016, Nemec Osmond’s salaries began to fluctuate dramatically. “At every check, I was short of money – and no one could explain it,” he said. After its promotion in 2017, the problem worsened: suddenly its executives wrote $ 0. And although he stopped working for the government in April 2018, he continues to receive tax documents claiming to have worked in 2020 and 2021. “I have no idea how much I owe. “My faith is gone, my home is gone,” said Nemec Osmond. “I just want someone to fix that.” Problems with the system have led many federal officials to lose their homes, retirement savings and other assets. In some cases, Phoenix corrected overpayments by recovering all of some employees’ paychecks. “In a sense, I am a volunteer until my debt owed by the Phoenix payroll system is paid off,” an Alberta employee told CBC last month. Wage problems have created great difficulties for Nemec Osmond and her two daughters, who had a backyard house and now live in a subsidized backyard house that opens onto a four-lane highway. And her youngest child, who is 11 years old, has suffered mental health problems as a result of the disorder, said Nemec Osmond. “I can not even drive next to the house – it hurts,” he said. The collapse has cost the government more than C $ 2.4 billion so far and could cost even more as problems persist and workers file new claims. The Treasury Department of Canada said it had settled almost all of the 27,955 compensation claims it had received so far. However, many claims for serious damages remain unresolved. The government is currently testing a new payroll program that it hopes will work much more smoothly. When asked if she thought this program would be better, Nemec Osmond laughed. “Good luck with that,” he said.
