Fed paid leave is way overblown. Only 5% of hours couldn't be worked. Sure 27% of fed public servants claimed 699 leave but very small impact compared to overall pay. Fed gov payroll is $800mil/wk, so if "699" cost $440 mil over 11 wks then 440/8800=5%. @ccpa #cdnpoli #canlab
What that means is that most of the 699 leave was either very short term (the overloaded gov VPN was down) or was moving from full-time to part-time (likely due to childcare).
The 2020-21 projected cash cost of payroll come from PBO in Figure A-2 which estimates it at $41.6 bil for entire year or 41.6/52=$0.8 Bil a week. The $440 mil cost of "699" leave was over 11 weeks https://www.pbo-dpb.gc.ca/web/default/files/Documents/Reports/2018/Fed%20Personnel%20Spending/Fed_Personnel_Spending_EN.pdf
So yes 27% of federal public servants claimed it for some amount, but it only reduced their hours worked by 5%. Only a 5% reduction in productivity due to COVID-19 is a minor miracle!