Excessive CERB payments: what’s an accident and what’s fraud

“For the most part, what they’re trying to do is make it more inclusive,” Hoback said. “I’ve come across different situations where they modified the program to allow those people who qualify for that money. There are some people who just don’t know. Their situation changed and that’s why they applied.”

Hoback expects the federal government to be lenient for Canadians who received a CERB cheque and no longer qualify, but he’s concerned some will try to apply for the program and receive funding without the intention to pay it back.

“I’m sorry but it doesn’t work that way,” he said. “You’ll have to pay it back. My opinion is if you know you’re asking for something you know you shouldn’t have, that’s no different than committing fraud. That has serious consequences.”

Don’t apply if you don’t qualify

Steve Seiferling is a labour and employment lawyer with Seiferling Law in Saskatoon who have applied for CERB through both Service Canada (for employment insurance) and the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). He said his law firm’s advice to those who lost employment due to the COVID-19 pandemic has changed numerous times from the middle of March to early April, as it was unclear initially if Canadians could collect EI and CERB at the same time.

“You’re not entitled to get EI and CERB at the same time, but some people applied at that point,” Seiferling said. “Their EI benefits were converted to CERB through the EI program, and they had also applied through [CRA]. Some people are double collecting. It’s an innocent mistake.”

For folks who are double collecting, Seiferling said the federal government will contact them regarding re-collection, although the exact details haven’t been announced.

However, for Canadians falsifying information to apply for the CERB when they’re not qualified, there’s a more costly route.

“That’s the equivalent of fraud,” Seiferling said. “If you’re knowingly submitting false information in order to qualify, then you could potentially face criminal charges. For the criminal proceedings… you’d likely be criminally charged and appear in provincial court.

The government also has a number of penalty and interest mechanisms on improper payments and methods of clawing back, both through CRA and Service Canada.”

If residents don’t qualify for the CERB, Seiferling encourages them to wait until a new program is unveiled.

“The target keeps changing for the CERB as well,” he said. “They continue to expand eligibility and create new programs for groups like students. Federally and provincially, they’re basically looking to cover off anybody who has lost work or a work opportunity as a result of COVID-19. As long as people stay diligent and continue to monitor, they’re likely eligible for some sort of coverage. But if they’re actually going in and falsifying information for an application, there are potential criminal consequences.”

Hope for clarity

Hoback will be back in Ottawa on May 13 for a House of Commons session. He hopes the CERB repayment process will be clearer before then.

“We haven’t seen the official government policy on what we should do if people are in this situation,” Hoback said. “We had one government official tell us if you have the cheque still in hand, you can send it back. There are legitimate people that have went through and applied thinking they qualified. [Suddenly] because of a new program, they got called back to work and they’ve now received the cheque. They want to send it back and correct it.

“If you’ve gone out and spent it, that could be very uncomfortable in the future. I trust most people legitimately claimed for, needed, and are getting [CERB].”

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aaron.schulze@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @SchulzePANow

by Aaron Schulze

Excessive CERB payments: what’s an accident and what’s fraud

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