How to read your pay stub

This page shows you how to access and interpret your pay stubs in Compensation Web Application. It also explains how to interpret the mass retroactive pay statements accessible in Phoenix.

Due to technical difficulties, the Phoenix pay stub and mass retroactive pay statements are currently unavailable.

On this page

Accessing your pay stub online

You may access your pay stub via Compensation Web Application (CWA) by selecting Pay Stubs & Archived Tax Slips

Note: CWA is password protected and requires a myKey to log in. You may use CWA (accessible only on the Government of Canada network) to:

More information

Get a myKey via the Online Registration and Credential Administration

Interpreting the information on your pay stub

Your pay stub contains numeric pay codes and abbreviations. Consult these lists of common earnings and deductions codes, abbreviations and acronyms to help you understand what they represent.

Deductions schedule

In months when there are 2 pay periods, 50% of monthly deductions is taken in each pay period. When there are 3 pay periods in a month, the deductions are taken in the second and third pay periods only. This means that your first net pay of the month would be higher, and your net pay in the second and third pay periods would be the same but lower than the first.

Note: Mandatory deductions such as income tax, Canada Pension Plan and Employment Insurance could be taken on an employee’s first pay period.

Annual salary

The pay stubs do not indicate your annual salary. To confirm your annual salary:

Gross pay

Your gross pay is the combination of your regular pay earnings, any one-time payments that are owed to you, retroactive pay and earnings for any extra-duty hours (including overtime and other allowances, such as meal allowances) processed in the same period. For example, if you work extra hours in the month of November, your mid-December pay will include your regular pay, your extra-duty pay and any other types of pay you are owed.

Note: Employees who enter their time and labour using Phoenix employee self-service must submit all time and labour claims by the Sunday (9 pm eastern time) of the non-pay week. Your manager and finance must then approve before the end of the next day (Monday) if the claims are to be included on your next pay. Follow up with your manager to ensure timely approvals.

Pension deductions

Your pension deductions might include:

Your pension deduction (PSSA) is calculated at either a low or high rate. The low rate is used when your current annual salary is below a specific threshold. Once your annual salary exceeds this amount, your deduction changes to the high rate.

Pension deductions More information

Taxes and benefits

The calculation of benefits, contributions and allowances may vary each pay period. However, this will not affect the total sum payable each calendar year.

How your online pay stubs compare

Due to technical difficulties, the Phoenix pay stub and mass retroactive pay statements are currently unavailable.

Your earnings and deductions amounts are the same on the CWA pay stub as they are in Phoenix. However, differences between CWA terminology and Phoenix terminology affects how these amounts appear on the pay stub. This section highlights where the terminology and display methods on each pay stub differ and explains how.

Gross

In CWA, this is your total salary and additional earnings including overtime, allowances and retro earnings (if applicable).

Phoenix displays this gross amount in section 5, Earnings (Total).

Taxable gross

In CWA, this is your taxable earnings amount, which is your gross pay before tax deductions and benefit deductions.

Phoenix divides this amount and displays it in 2 fields:

Total taxes and deductions

In CWA, this is a summary of the statutory taxes and deductions withheld from your payment for the current pay period and year-to-date, or YTD.

Phoenix displays this amount in section 4, Paycheque summary Total taxes and Total deductions).

Net

In CWA, this is your total payment amount, equal to gross pay less all taxes and deductions.

Phoenix displays this amount in section 4, Paycheque summary (Net pay).

Federal tax

In CWA this is the amount the federal government deducts from your pay according to the prescribed rate for your salary bracket.

Phoenix displays this amount in section 6, Taxes (CIT, or Canadian income tax).

Provincial tax

In CWA, this is the amount the government of Québec deducts from your pay if you work in the province, or if you live in this province and requested the deduction.

Phoenix displays this amount in section 6, Taxes (QIT, or Québec income tax).

Superannuation

In CWA, this is your Public Service Pension Plan deduction.

Phoenix breaks this deduction down into 3 parts in section 7, Before tax deductions:

CPP/QPP

In CWA, this is your Canada Pension Plan (CPP) deduction or your Québec Pension Plan (QPP) deduction, whichever applies.

Phoenix displays this deduction in section 6, Taxes (CPP or QPP).

QPIP

In CWA, this is your Québec Parental Insurance Plan deduction.

Phoenix displays this deduction in section 6, Taxes (QPIP).

Credit union

In CWA, these are your deductions for loan payments, registered retirement savings plans, savings or other such deductions, if applicable.

Phoenix displays this deduction in section 8, After-tax deductions (Credit union deduction).

Association dues

In CWA, these are deductions for your association or union dues.

Phoenix displays these deductions in section 7: Before-tax deductions (Dues).

Death benefits

In CWA, this is the amount deducted for your Supplementary Death Benefit plan coverage.

Phoenix displays this deduction in section 8, After-tax deductions (Supplementary Death Benefit).

Health insurance

In CWA, this is the amount deducted for your Public Service Health Care Plan (PSHCP), if applicable.

Phoenix displays this deduction in section 8, After-tax deductions (PSHCP)

Retroactive pay and overtime pay

By selecting View Phoenix Paycheque in CWA, you may review retroactive and overtime pay information broken down by period of work and the number of hours per earning type.

On the Phoenix pay stub (accessible via the self-service option), retroactive and overtime pay information includes the earnings description, the code and the amount paid.

Retroactive pay and overtime pay More information

Accessing and interpreting mass retroactive pay statements

In this section, find out where to access detailed information about your mass retroactive pay in the Phoenix pay system, and how to interpret it.

Due to technical difficulties, the Phoenix pay stub and mass retroactive pay statements are currently unavailable.

About retroactive payments

Retroactive pay is a payment made in the current pay period for any increase in wages or salary earned during a past period.

This payment is calculated based on the amount of time employees were active in the affected position. This starts with the effective date of the revision in rates of pay and ends on the last day of the pay period prior to when the new rates of pay were entered in the Phoenix Pay System.

This payment may also include payment for allowances which have been implemented or modified with the signing of the new collective agreement or the arbitral award.

Eligibility for retroactive payments

Employees, former employees, or in the case of death, the estates of former employees who were employees in the retroactive period, are all entitled to a retroactive revision. Casual, term and seasonal employees are also entitled to the revised salary rates. Students are not.

Where to find this information in Phoenix

Log in to Phoenix. To view retroactive (or retro) details for a specific paycheque, follow these steps:

Note: If you do not enter search criteria, all confirmed cheques with mass retro payments will appear.

How to read the mass retroactive payments page

This page displays information in a total of 9 columns. Each row relates to a specific retroactive pay period.

Column 1: earnings code and column 2: description

Column 1 refers to the type of earning and column 2 describes the code. The description also appears on your Phoenix pay stub.

Table: Overview and description of each earning code associated with mass retroactive payments
Earning code Description Earning code overview
210 Adjustment of regular pay, retroactive revision, current fiscal year Adjustment of regular pay from the effective date in the current fiscal year or April 1, whichever is later, to the date prior to the signing of the collective agreement
211 Adjustment of regular pay, retroactive revision, prior fiscal year Adjustment of regular pay from the effective date to the date prior to the signing date of the collective agreement in the previous fiscal year
212 Adjustment of regular pay, retroactive revision, prior fiscal year 2 Adjustment of regular pay from the effective date to the date prior to the signing date of the collective agreement in the second previous fiscal year
213 Adjustment of regular pay, retroactive revision, prior fiscal year 3 Adjustment of regular pay from the effective date to the date prior to the signing date of the collective agreement in the third, fourth or fifth previous fiscal years
220 Retroactive overtime, current fiscal year Adjustment of overtime from the effective date in the current fiscal year or April 1, whichever is later, to the date prior to the signing of the collective agreement
221 Retroactive overtime, prior fiscal year 1 Adjustment of overtime pay from the effective date to the date prior to the signing date of the collective agreement in the previous fiscal year
222 Retroactive overtime, prior fiscal year 2 Adjustment of overtime pay from the effective date to the date prior to the signing date of the collective agreement in the second previous fiscal year
223 Retroactive overtime, prior fiscal year 3 Adjustment of overtime pay from the effective date to the date prior to the signing date of the collective agreement in the third, fourth or fifth previous fiscal years

Column 3: begin date and column 4: end date

The start and end of the mass retroactive pay period.

Column 5: former annual/hourly rate

The rate of pay before the mass retroactive pay period. Information available from before the conversion to the Phoenix pay system will display your annual rate of pay while information post-conversion will display your hourly rate of pay. This rate also appears on Compensation Web Applications / View Phoenix paycheque.

Column 6: new annual/hourly rate

The new rate of pay following the wage increase. Information available from before the conversion to the Phoenix pay system will display your annual rate of pay while information post-conversion will display your hourly rate of pay. This rate also appears on Compensation Web Applications / View Phoenix paycheque.

Column 7: days/hours worked

The number of hours you worked during the pay period. Information available from before the conversion to the Phoenix pay system will display the number of days worked while information post-conversion will display the number of hours worked. The number of hours worked also appears on Compensation Web Applications / View Phoenix paycheque

Column 8: total amount per earnings code

The total amount of retroactive pay you are entitled to, based on the new rate and the period worked. This amount also appears on your Phoenix pay stub.

How to report errors in your pay

If you believe there is a mistake on your pay stub, visit Get help with Phoenix-related pay issues and follow the process outlined there.

Related links

Report a problem or mistake on this page
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