Federal department fired 54 employees who received CERB while employed

Article content

OTTAWA — The two federal departments charged with doling out COVID-19 benefits have fired 286 employees who “wrongly” received the Canada Emergency Response Benefit while still working for the government.

In a statement Tuesday, the Canada Revenue Agency said that 232 employees had either resigned or been fired after it was discovered they had “inappropriately” received the $2,000-per-month CERB.

Article content

Article content

“Anyone who is found to be ineligible for the CERB must repay it. Any CRA employee who inappropriately applied for and received the CERB will be required to repay the amounts if they haven’t already done so,” CRA spokesperson Sylvie Branch said in a statement.

The agency said last year it was investigating 600 workers it suspected of having claimed a COVID-19 emergency benefit while working for CRA. As of now, Branch said 133 were found to have been eligible.

The other department charged with doling out COVID-19 benefits, Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) and its Service Canada arm, reported in a document tabled in the Senate last week that it had revoked the security clearance of 54 employees — effectively firing them — because they had illegitimately received a COVID-19 benefit as of November.

The department, which employs over 25,000 people, also said that it was investigating a further 20 employees it still suspects “wrongly obtained” COVID-19 emergency benefits, according to the document tabled in response to a question by Conservative Sen. Don Plett.

Article content

Article content

That means that ESDC discovered 25 more employees who had potentially illegally accepted COVID-19 benefits like CERB since a department executive told a Commons committee last year that it had already fired 49 employees for the same reason.

“It was discovered that some of our employees had availed themselves … of CERB,” ESDC’s head of integrity services Mary Crescenzi told MPs last year. “Those individuals that did break the trust of the employer-employee relationship … have been terminated.”

ESDC (and its Service Canada arm) is the department charged with doling out the bulk of federal government benefits such as Employment Insurance, Old Age Security and various disability assistance programs. Alongside the Canada Revenue Agency, it also distributed CERB during the pandemic.

In a report published last year, Auditor General Karen Hogan found that a “minimum” of $27.4 billion in suspicious COVID-19 benefit payments need to be investigated because ESDC and CRA did not manage the aid programs efficiently, and they will likely fail to recover “significant” amounts in overpayments.

Article content

In a statement, ESDC spokesperson Mila Roy said the department discovered the double-dipping employees through proactive monitoring of the programs it delivers for “external and internal risks.”

“Misrepresentation is not consistent with the expected behaviours of ESDC/Service Canada employees and presented a reasonable concern for the Department’s interests and the security of its assets and information holdings,” Roy wrote.

“Public servants must behave in a manner exhibiting honesty and trustworthiness in the workplace. Outside the workplace, public servants are trusted to protect their employer’s interests and maintain public trust in the Federal Public Service including ESDC,” she added.

CERB was designed early in the pandemic to pay $500 per week to Canadians who lost their job because of lockdowns. Out- of-work Canadians who made a minimum of $5,000 in 2020 or the previous year were eligible to apply.

Launched at the height of the first COVID-19 lockdown in 2020, it was designed with an unusually simple application process to get money out the door quickly. The program waived the usual pre-payment verifications designed to prevent fraudulent or illegitimate payments.

Article content

In an interview, Plett said he believed CERB would be rife for fraud from the get-go and questioned why departments have thus far apparently refused to refer fired employees to the police.

“These people have stolen money… they’re stealing from Canadian taxpayers,” Plett said. “The AG said that $27.4 billion in suspicious payments need to be investigated. It’s horrendous.

“The program lent itself to people cheating, without question,” he added. “It was such a horribly, horribly run program. No control, let’s just dole out the money.”

The senator also took offence with some of the language used by the department when describing the former employees’ actions.

“Misrepresentation? Why not call it what it is? It’s lying,” he said. “Leaders lead by example, and when we have a government that does this, what can we expect from their employees?”

Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our politics newsletter, First Reading, here.

Article content