A Telus spokesman said problems that do occur are quickly rectified. (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)

Health-care workers in Calgary have filed a class action lawsuit against a Telus subsidiary that handles their payroll and benefits.

Lawyer Clint Docken said Thursday the lawsuit, worth $50 million, has been filed against Telus Sourcing Solutions Inc. on behalf of two employees of the former Calgary Health Region.

Docken claimed the workers have endured years of mistakes on pay stubs, problems with their family benefits and issues tracking vacation and pension calculations. There are potentially 4,000 people who could sign on to the lawsuit.

Telus Sourcing Solutions Inc., a department within Telus, began managing the payroll and benefits system in 2004 and still has 10 years left on its contract. The Calgary Health Region no longer exists, but Alberta Health Services still uses Telus Sourcing Solutions for Calgary-area employees.

Docken, who specializes in class action suits, said he has never represented such a large group that has suffered so many problems so often.

"What's unusual here are the number of people that are experiencing the same problems," he said.

He hopes a judge with the Court of Queens Bench will certify the group as having a common legal interest later this year so the matter can proceed.

Errors in salary, benefits, vacation time alleged

Laurel Jackson claimed she and other employees have been underpaid, found mistakes on their T-4 slips, have been told members of their families aren't covered by their dental plan, and found problems calculating vacation time.

"It's ridiculous. This should have been settled a long time ago," Jackson said. "They say, oh we're getting better. But they're not getting better. It's just getting worse."

Telus Sourcing Solutions Inc. has maintained that its work is 99.9 per cent accurate and any problems that do occur are quickly rectified.

Staff meet regularly with the workers' union and payroll problems don't seem to be a big issue, said Telus spokesman Shawn Hall.

"We met with them on Tuesday and they were able to bring out two individual issues, caused by human error, that we were able to get addressed right away," he said.