Make CERB payment even if claimant quit job, fired: memo

Among the few requirements for receiving a $2,000-amonth emergency payment from the federal government is that claimants have been put out of work by the pandemic.

Being eligible for regular employment insurance (EI) or having exhausted earlier EI benefits can also qualify them.

But a new memo to Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) staff processing the applications says they should approve claims even if the person might have quit voluntarily or been fired for misconduct.

Adjudication of what it refers to as “contentious issues” is to be deferred until later, says the note, which was viewed by the National Post.

Sources familiar with the process say the same approach applies to Canadians who had left work or taken a leave of absence and travelled abroad before the pandemic. Even if that trip outside the country was pre-planned, they can still get the Canada

Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) from when the benefit became active in midMarch.

It’s another indication that Ottawa is at least postponing the usual checks and balances for such programs as it strives to disburse billions of dollars to unemployed Canadians quickly and widely.

When there is evidence of potential abuse, an earlier memo, also viewed by the Post, said employees should issue payments and not refer cases for investigation.

The government says it will pursue unwarranted or fraudulent payments later and is monitoring applications for possible abuse. But some people knowledgeable about the system are skeptical.

“I highly doubt any money will be recovered from those files since there is no misrepresentation from the claimants,” said one source about the latest directive dealing with the reasons people became jobless. “We have the information and it is our decision to pay, so I don’t see on what basis we could ask these people to pay back.”