Feds say chasing down CERB cheats would be 'undue burden'
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Recovering $2 billion from job-quitting cheats who stole from the Canada Emergency Response Benefit program would be an “undue burden” for investigators, says a federal memo.
More than 190,000 claimants quit work to take a “CERB vacation,” according to Blacklock’s Reporter.
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“Due to the subjective nature of the criteria, the difficulty of proving eligibility after the fact and undue burden that investigation would create, Service Canada will apply a risk managed approach to these cases,” the Department of Employment wrote in a February 7 briefing memo.
Figures show 190,254 people quit their jobs to claim $2,000 monthly pandemic relief cheques.
Payments to quitters totalled $1.6 billion, said the briefing note.
The Canada Emergency Response Benefit Act was passed in 2020 to save jobless taxpayers from eviction.
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“We have had numerous reports from clients and friends where former employees prefer to be on a CERB vacation rather than returning to work,” Kim Moody, CEO of Moodys Tax Law LLP of Calgary, testified at 2020 hearings of the Commons human resources committee. “We are seeing and experiencing this, especially with part-time employees.”
The Department of Employment said it tightened criteria and promised to recover undeserved payments.
“There will be the possibility for the government after the fact, if there is some suspicion an application has been made mistakenly or with intent to defraud the government, we can go back and ask the individual to explain how they were eligible,” Elisha Ram, associate assistant deputy minister, testified at 2020 committee hearings.
Parliament budgeted $24 billion for the program.
Final costs totalled $81.6 billion and auditors haven’t fully accounted for the discrepancy.
According to the memo, $6.1 million was paid in benefits to 1,522 prisoners, $3.3 million to 704 claimants who did not live in Canada, and $2.2 million to a total 434 children under age 15.
All were ineligible to receive the payments.
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