SASKATOON -- Larry Cook has been retired for 13 years, after 41 years of working with the Saskatoon Police Service. For the last 11 years, he’s been back working a single shift a week.
That single shift a week seems to be the catalyst behind Cook not receiving his monthly pension from the City of Saskatoon.
Cook says he got a call from employee benefits on Dec. 30 telling him he wouldn’t be receiving his pension cheque on Jan. 1.
“Because of this new computer system they have,” said Cook. “And because I'm employed there. So they can pay me my employment, but they can't pay me my pension.”
Cook says after the Union and finance department with SPS “went to bat” for him, he received his pension on Jan. 5.
“I received a phone call from a different person in employee benefits apologizing for everything, and said this shouldn't have happened, and if there's any issues I should contact them,” said Cook.
But his troubles didn’t stop there.
Cook claims his next paycheque, due Jan. 15, was four days late, and his pay for Jan. 29, as well as his pension for Feb. 1 hasn’t come in at all.
“The city has always been a good employer to me over the last 41 years. I've never had any issues with this,” he said. “What's so bad about this whole situation is you expect that money to be in the bank on the first of every month to pay bills, and if it's not there then you're scrambling for money.”
“Once you retire, you depend on that paycheque every month, because that's your livelihood.”
In a statement to CTV News, Chief Human Resource Officer Sarah Cameron says they “are aware that with the implementation of our new accounting system a small number of pensioners experienced discrepancies with their pension payments and pay.”
“A total of 24 people were affected in the switch-over. City staff have been working tirelessly to quickly resolve these issues and to directly communicate with those impacted. We have identified the issue and have a solution to ensure the issues are eliminated going forward. We have already rectified the pay errors for the majority of those impacted and will have those remaining paid by the end of this week.”
Cook claims the response from the city has been “that when you resign (from working one shift a week), you'll get your pension back on the first of the month.”
He says he doesn’t intend to resign.
“The care factor is not there, coming to the city. The police are caring a lot, but City Hall is not caring.”