As many as 120 Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) employees lost their jobs after fraudulently collecting the Canadian Emergency Response Benefit (CERB), intended for people unemployed during the pandemic.
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The federal body announced this in a statement addressed to the media on Friday morning. Note that on June 30, the CRA initiated an internal review process to identify employees who had applied for the CERB without being eligible.
A total of 600 files were examined and 120 people are no longer employed by the federal agency as a result of this internal review. There could also be further layoffs as “reviews and disciplinary proceedings are ongoing.”
The government agency reminded that all of its employees who improperly applied for the CERB must repay the money received.
“The Agency takes any form of misconduct very seriously and is committed to protecting the integrity of Canada’s tax and benefit systems and demonstrating to Canadians that it is a fair and trustworthy organization.” When misconduct is discovered, we ensure that appropriate measures are taken to address this,” the CRA said.
However, not all federal agency employees applied for the CERB without being eligible. In fact, to date, approximately 30 employees captured in an online review have been deemed eligible for this benefit.
“Furthermore, as previously noted, the fact that this individual is currently an employee of the agency does not necessarily mean that this individual was ineligible for the CERB. The agency employs employees with different professional profiles, such as temporary contracts and student contracts. It is therefore possible that some individuals were eligible for CERB at the time the benefit was available,” the CRA said.