Ottawa
The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) says 289 of its employees who improperly received the Canada Emergency Response Benefit are no longer employed by the agency.
289 employees now no longer with agency, which has been digging into 600 suspect cases
The Canada Revenue Agency says it has also found that 135 of the employees it investigated in an internal review actually were eligible to receive CERB. (The Canadian Press)Almost 300 Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) employees who improperly applied for and received the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) are no longer with the agency, according to the latest numbers from an internal review.
The agency launched the review last year to identify those who inappropriately got CERB payments while CRA employees. It identified 600 cases for further investigation.
“The CRA takes any form of wrongdoing very seriously, and is strongly committed to protecting the integrity of Canada’s tax and benefit systems,” the agency said in a statement to CBC.
CERB provided financial support to people who lost employment or self-employment income during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“As of June 17, 2024, 289 CRA employees who inappropriately applied for and received the CERB are no longer with the CRA,” the statement said. The new number updates earlier totals the agency has periodically released.
“Anyone who is found to be ineligible for the CERB, including CRA employees who inappropriately applied for and received it, will be required to repay the amounts if they haven’t already done so,” the agency added.
The CRA also noted that 135 employees subject to investigation have now been cleared as of August 23 of this year.
“As the CRA employs individuals with a variety of employment profiles such as temporary and student contracts, some individuals were eligible to receive the CERB,” it said.
Union says CRA ‘going quite heavy’Union of Tax Employees national president Marc Brière said the agency has taken a “heavy-handed” approach in some cases.
“Some people did something wrong, and they are paying the price for it. Some others, sometimes, they didn’t do it, let’s say, with ill-intent,” he said.
“The CRA takes this very seriously. It is a sensitive issue obviously for the reputation of the CRA. In case of doubt they are going quite heavy.”
He said some terminations were clear-cut and hard to defend, though in others there were “mitigating factors” and the union filed grievances.
“When the CERB was launched, at the beginning, it was very confusing,” he said. “It was put up in three weeks, and some employees, some of our members, are no different than the rest of the public and they were not sure if they were eligible.”
He said there were cases of employees working second or third jobs. When they lost one, he said some believed they were eligible due to lost revenue. In some cases, according to Brière, they received incorrect information from CRA customer service.
The dismissals represent a small fraction of the nearly 60,000 people who work for CRA.
“The actions of some should in no way undermine the honesty and integrity of the thousands of CRA employees who work every day in an exemplary manner to serve Canadians,” said the CRA.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Arthur White-Crummey is a reporter at CBC Ottawa. He has previously worked as a reporter in Saskatchewan covering the courts, city hall and the provincial legislature. You can reach him at arthur.white-crummey@cbc.ca.
