With many people living paycheque to paycheque and constantly waiting for money to hit their bank account, it is a very scary time when the dollars aren’t coming in.
For many health-care workers in Saskatchewan, their bank accounts aren’t as full as they should be as people are going to work and not getting paid.
“Our members are missing hundreds, even upwards of a thousand dollars in some cases on their paycheques, and that is unacceptable,” CUPE 5430 health-care workers president Bashir Jalloh said.
The problem comes from an ongoing payroll system failure.
The AIMS payroll software was initially launched in 2021 to manage payroll, scheduling, human resources and finances for the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) — but was quickly switched back to the old system due to issues.
Two months ago, it was relaunched in the province. Since then, CUPE 5430 says the issues are piling up.
The union said health-care workers are coming up on their third pay cycle with the re-launch of AIMS and are fearing the worst.
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“The system is set up in such a way that when there’s a problem with your pay you create a ticket,” Jalloh said.
“Sometimes they respond — but it’s usually two weeks, three weeks and people are not getting paid and they’re not getting any response. There is a real apprehension from our members.”
And with people waiting to be paid, frustration is growing.
“We have reached out to the leadership of the SHA; all we’re being told is ‘We are working hard to try and fix it.’ Trying hard to fix it? People have mortgages to pay. People’s cheques are being bounced. We cannot continue this way.”
Even after raising concerns, Jalloh said some workers still aren’t getting what they’re owed.
“There are cases where somebody was short $1,088 and when we raised that issue with the employer, all they did was send a $375 cheque to them.”
“At a time when gas, rent and groceries are getting more and more expensive it is essential that our health providers are getting paid for their work. We need urgent action from the SHA and the provincial government to fix these issues and work to ensure it does not happen again.”
CUPE is calling on the SHA and the provincial government to take immediate action.
Mike Northcott, the chief human resources officer at the SHA and member of the AIMS executive steering committee issued a statement Monday afternoon.
“As with any payroll process, errors occur and small number of employees did not receive a bank deposit at the expected time.
“All missing wages from the first and second payroll runs have now been paid out to employees.”
He went on to say the number of employees affected by the issue in the first pay run was fewer than one per cent. Northcott said the error rate in the second pay run was well below one per cent.
“Instances where employees do not receive their pay are being addressed quickly, and all staff are being paid. As issues are identified, advances are processed.”
The AIMS system processes approximately 48,000 payslips in each pay period.
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