The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has fired 120 employees who fraudulently claimed the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) while employed at the federal agency.
In a news release, the CRA said it launched an internal review in June to identify employees who inappropriately claimed CERB during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Canada Revenue Agency was one of the federal government’s main administrators of the CERB program, which was closed in late 2020 and replaced with enhanced unemployment benefits.
“We can report that 120 individuals are no longer with the CRA as a result of this internal review,” the agency said, adding: “Any CRA employee who inappropriately claimed the CERB will be required to repay the amounts if they haven’t already done so.”
The federal government in Ottawa launched CERB in 2020 to support Canadian workers who lost their jobs or were otherwise subjected to financial hardship due to the pandemic.
CERB paid eligible people $2,000 a month.
In all, Ottawa is estimated to have spent $81.64 billion on CERB. Instances of fraudulent claims throughout Canada are believed to have been rampant with the program.
