A troubled government computer system that is causing pay problems for tens of thousands of federal workers has also raised privacy concerns.
Managers in four departments reported that the Phoenix system allowed them to see the names and ID numbers of employees across the federal government, according to a spokesperson for Public Services Minister Judy Foote.
“As soon as this (was) discovered, a system fix was put in place to prevent this issue for reoccurring,” the spokesperson added.
“The department conducted a security review and assessed this incident as low risk,” the spokesperson went on.
Public Services and Procurement Canada followed protocol by reporting the privacy incident to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada and the Treasury Board Secretariat, according to the statement.
The news of the security concerns comes just one day after the government said Phoenix-related problems had caused pay problems for about 82,000 government employees. Among them are 720 workers who missed entire paycheques -- some for months at a time.
The Public Service Alliance of Canada, a union representing the workers, has been calling on the government to revert to the old computer system, but Minister Foote has said that would not be possible.
At a news conference Monday, Deputy Minister of Public Services and Procurement Canada Marie Lemay called the situation “completely unacceptable” and said staff are “working around the clock to resolve these problems as quickly as possible.”
