There are two different views of what is happening with the new payroll system from the Saskatchewan Health Authority. President of CUPE Local 5430, which represents nearly 14,000 health care workers says there have been two pay periods using the Administrative Information Management System and some members have been shorted what they are owed. Bashir Jalloh adds that members are already under a lot of stress because of the workload, short staffing and the employer bringing in contract workers who, according to Jalloh, are making two-and-a-half to three times more money than permanent workers.

AIMS is supposed to manage things like payroll, scheduling, human resources and finances for the SHA. It was expected to be up and running by the spring of 2021, but didn’t happen until November of 2022, and then there were so many issues, it was cancelled. AIMS is now being launched in phases and payroll was the first.

An email statement on behalf of Mike Northcott, Chief Human Resources Officer at the SHA and member of the AIMS Executive Steering Committee says there were errors and a small number of employees didn’t receive bank deposits at the expected time, but they have since been paid. As well, it was fewer than one per cent of employees who were affected in the first pay run, which is the same as the pre-AIMS rate and for the second pay run, there were even fewer. Northcott considers the launch a success overall. He adds that the new, integrated system will replace more than 80 aging and non-integrated systems with one modern, secure system that is essential to the administration of health care.

The Provincial Auditor noted in a report last December that the SHA signed an agreement with the Ministry of Health back in November of 2018 for $86 million to cover the cost of AIMS, but by March of last year, the cost was projected at $240 million.