A longtime federal public servant says she’s become "collateral damage" as her department clears its backlog of Phoenix payroll issues so it can test replacement software — and in doing so introduced an error to her file, refused to fix it and is now clawing back hundreds of dollars per paycheque.

"I feel very disappointed in my employer," said Kristen Ouellette, a manager at Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC). "You really feel crushed."

Ouellette says the government is forcing her to pay for a Phoenix pay clerk’s error — all to ensure her department's clean migration to Dayforce, the replacement payroll system slated to begin testing this fall.

After launching in 2016, the error-plagued Phoenix pay system overpaid and underpaid thousands of public servants. A decade later, the backlog of pay claims remains at 216,000, and both current and former employees continue to suffer the effects.