Paid leave for federal civil servants cost $1.1B during pandemic: report

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Over 110,000 federal workers were granted paid leave so far during the pandemic, according to a new report from the Parliamentary Budget Office.

Published Tuesday, the report — collated from data collected from 84 of 90 federal public service organizations – states 113,362 federal civil servants booked time off between March and September under the “Code 699 paid leave for other reasons” payroll code, costing the government civil service over $1.1-billion.

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Canada Revenue Agency employees booked more time off than any other organization, amounting to 46% of all civil servants as of Sept. 6.

Canada’s largest civil service, a total of 2.2-million hours of leave were granted to CRA workers during the pandemic.

The 3,045 employees of the Correctional Service of Canada booked 85,988 hours of leave between March and September, the 3,498 Employment and Social Development Canada workers booked 85,988 hours, and the Canada Border Services Agency recorded 93,558 leave hours among its 2,786 employees.

During the summer, Blacklock’s Reporter reported more than a quarter of federal workers took paid furloughs between March and June, costing over $439-million.

Month for month, the number of federal workers booking code 699 leave peaked in April at 74,031 — falling slightly in May in 68,542 to a yearly low of 8,619 in September, according to the report.

bpassifiume@postmedia.com
On Twitter: @bryanpassifiume