Impact of labour disruption on your public service pay

During strikes, Public Service Pay Administration is maintained, as it is an essential service. On this page, you will find information about how pay processing was impacted as a result of the recent Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) strikes.

Employees at the Client Contact Centre work to answer enquiries and calls in a timely manner but there may be increased wait times when contacting them due to increased volumes of calls related to the labour disruptions.

Employees on strike are considered to be on Leave Without Pay (LWOP). That leave will be processed as outlined on this page and your pay will be adjusted as a result.

Process for Leave Without Pay strike of 5 days or less

For strike actions lasting 5 days or less, your manager or timekeeper will submit your LWOP directly into the pay system. Your LWOP will then be reflected on an upcoming pay cheque. This type of leave does not typically require manual intervention by the Pay Centre, or your relevant compensation team. LWOP due to strike activity will have an impact on your pension.

To see leave recorded in Phoenix (available on the Government of Canada network only), follow this menu path:

Main menu
Self service
Time reporting
View time
Payable time detail

Process for Leave Without Pay strike of 6 days or more

LWOP for strike actions lasting 6 days or more is processed differently due to legislative requirements and may require manual intervention by Compensation advisors. This type of leave has an impact on your Records of Employment, allowances, pension, and more.

After the leave is entered into your human resources system by your department’s human resources team, it will be processed in the pay system and your pay will be adjusted for the strike period.

If your department or agency is served by the Public Service Pay Centre, your department’s human resources team will send the LWOP information to the Pay Centre for any additional processing. The Pay Centre will then finalize the work on your file, including ensuring that allowances were paid correctly for the period of the strike.

If your department or agency is not served by the Pay Centre, your departmental compensation team is responsible to complete processing of the LWOP transactions.

When to expect adjustments to pay

The Government of Canada is working to process all pay transactions related to strikes as efficiently as possible.

The adjustments of individual pay for LWOP due to strike have already begun. You may have seen your pay adjusted as early as your May 10, 2023 pay. Due to the volume of transactions to be processed, and the complexity of the work, your pay may not be impacted immediately as the work continues over multiple pay periods.

Once your LWOP of 6 days or more has been entered in the pay system and processed, an overpayment will be created and the amount will be recovered from first-available funds. You will not receive an overpayment letter before recovery begins. You can consult the Human resources Information bulletin on overpayments resulting from leave without pay due to strike issued on April 14, 2023 for more information.

The recovery will be visible on your pay stub, which you can see on MyGCPay.

Some employees may receive low or no pay as a result of the strike period LWOP. This is due to certain deductions that are not reduced during the time the employee participated in strike activity. As such, your deductions continue to be based on a 10-day pay cycle regardless of the number of days worked for which you will receive pay.

For any questions, speak to your manager or contact the Client Contact Centre.

Other impacts on employee pay

Learn about how your benefits and pension will be impacted: Impacts to compensation when withdrawing services during a strike.

The employer does not administer strike pay. If you have questions about strike pay and top-ups, contact the Public Service Alliance of Canada.

Implementation of new collective agreements

For information on how and when new collective agreements are being implemented see: Collective agreement implementation timelines

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Date modified:: 2023-09-26

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