About 600 other workers under investigation for 'inappropriately' receiving benefit
The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) said it has fired 20 of its employees for claiming COVID-19 benefits while still working at the tax authority.
Specifically, the fired workers received Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) payments, though the agency did not specify the amount that was wrongly claimed, according to a CTV News report.
The CRA was responsible for administering the $2,000-per-month CERB when it was in effect between March and September 2020.
In February, Ottawa announced it had fired 49 public workers who allegedly claimed the CERB while they were still employed by the federal government.
The firings at CRA stemmed from “a broader internal review process to identify any CRA employees who inappropriately received the CERB while employed with the CRA,” Sylvie Branch, CRA spokesperson, said in a statement late on Friday, according to a CTV News report.
More CRA workers to be fired?
“It is important to note that this number is likely to increase as the reviews are completed,” she added.
About 600 other CRA employees are also under investigation for possibly having “inappropriately” received the CERB despite not losing their job during the pandemic.
In May 2022, the CRA began issuing Notices of Redetermination (NoRs) to individuals who received the CERB but were not eligible for it so they could repay them.
There will be no penalties for individuals who applied for the benefit in good faith but in error, but they need to repay the emergency benefits that they were not eligible for, according to the federal government.
In late 2022, the Auditor General of Canada said that tens of thousands of Canadian employers that received the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) were ineligible for the government benefit.
Positive impact on CERB recipients
A recent report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) highlighted just how important CERB was to those whose employment was hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The CERB program played a key role easing the transition back to work, found the survey of 1,500 CERB recipients conducted between Nov. 18 and 25, 2022 conducted for the CCPA by Abacus Data.
Two-third (66%) of respondents who returned to the workforce said CERB allowed them to re-enter the job market in a way that worked best for them; 62 said it gave them time to think about the career/job they wanted; and 57% said it allowed them to look for the right job, not just the first job that came along.
It also helped create the conditions for important career changes, CCPA noted in its report titled Canada Emergency Response Benefit: More than just an income program.
Altogether, 41% experienced some sort of career change when re-entering the job market: 35% of respondents changed employers, 31% changed positions or got a new job title and 30% shifted into a new industry.