A woman in Newfoundland lost her house after the government of Canada stopped paying her while she was on contract with its own revenue agency.
Joanne Nemec Osmond's ordeal is the latest case of an automated payroll system that has resulted in 200,000 government workers being overpaid, underpaid or not paid at all.
The Phoenix system, known as the Phoenix, was developed by IBM. The Globe and Mail reported earlier this year that the initial C $5.8 m contract was amended 50 times and the cost has gone up to C $650 m as stabilisation efforts continue.
When Phoenix was launched in 2016, Nemec Osmond's pay cheques began to vary dramatically. She said every cheque, I was missing amounts, and no one could explain it.
After she was promoted in 2017 the problem got worse: suddenly her pay stubs read $0. Although she left for the government in April 2018, she still receives tax documents claiming she worked in 2020 and 2021.
I have no idea how much I owe. Nemec Osmond said my credit is gone, the house is gone. A number of federal employees have been forced to lose their homes, retirement savings, and other assets because of problems with the system. Phoeneix over-corrected overpayments by clawing back some employees' entire paycheques.
A Alberta employee told CBC last month that I am volunteer until my debt is paid off that was created by the Phoenix pay system.
Pay problems have created a lot of hardship for Nemec Osmond and her two daughters, who used to have a house with a pool in the backyard, and now live in subsidized housing with a back door that opens onto a four-lane highway.
Nemec Osmond said that her youngest child, who is 11 years old, has suffered mental health problems as a result of the upheaval.
She said that I can't drive by the house it hurts.
The government's costs have been more than C $2.4 billion so far, and may cost more as problems persist and employees file new compensation claims.
The Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat said it resolved nearly all of the 27,955 compensation claims it received. Many claims for severe damages are unresolved.
The government is testing a new payroll program that it hopes will run smoothly.
Nemec Osmond laughed when asked if she thought the program would be better.
She said she had good luck with that.