Over the past week, several ACFO-ACAF members inquired about whether they are eligible to receive compensation following the Superior Court of Quebec’s approval of the settlement between the Government of Canada and non-unionized and casual federal employees (opens in new tab) affected by the Phoenix pay system.

The settlement applies to unrepresented employees who experienced pay issues due to the Phoenix pay system between February 2016 and March 2020. You may be eligible for compensation if any of the scenarios below apply to your employment with the Government of Canada during that period. You were:

• A casual employee;
• Working as a student;
• A term employee for less than 3 months;
• A part-time worker (working less than one-third of the normal period for persons doing similar work); or
• Appointed by the Governor in Council.

If you believe you meet any of these criteria, please contact Saraïlis Avocats (opens in new tab), the class action law firm that handled the case, to verify your eligibility.

How ACFO-ACAF members were compensated

If you were an ACFO-ACAF member between 2016 and 2020, you already received Phoenix pay system damages.

In 2019, a subcommittee of federal public service unions signed an agreement with the employer to add leave bank credits for those who were employed since Phoenix was deployed, regardless of if or how they were affected by Phoenix.

The compensation was laid out as follows:

• Two (2) days of annual leave for anyone who worked in the public service in 2016-17;
• One (1) day of annual leave for anyone employed in 2017-18;
• One (1) day of annual leave for anyone employed in 2018-19; and
• One (1) day of annual leave for anyone employed in 2019-20.