A federal labour board has upheld the dismissal of a Department of Employment worker who collected Canada Emergency Response Benefit payments while being paid to help administer the same program.Blacklock's Reporter says Ridwan Abdulaziz of Ottawa was fired in 2021 after supervisors discovered he had filed eight separate claims for the $2,000-a-month CERB while earning $988 a week as a call centre employee. “He was repeatedly dishonest,” ruled the Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board.“It is inconceivable he did not know the rules.”The board said Abdulaziz’s position made the misconduct even more serious. “He was working at the call centre that was administering benefits and thus was even more attuned to the importance of submitting accurate information,” wrote adjudicator Patricia Harewood. .“The claim he was just sloppy when he consistently filled out his electronic claimant reports does not seem credible.”Abdulaziz told the board he misunderstood eligibility rules after hearing the prime minister say online that people who lost work due to the pandemic could apply for the benefit. He said stress and financial pressure led to confusion. The board rejected that argument. “Stress and financial strain do not absolve him from deceit,” wrote Harewood.The ruling noted Abdulaziz only stopped after the Canada Revenue Agency flagged his claims. .“Rather than coming forward to declare he had made an honest mistake, he remained under the radar,” the adjudicator wrote.At least 49 employees at Employment and Social Development Canada were fired for making fraudulent CERB claims, according to a 2023 department briefing. The program, launched in 2020 to send $2,000 cheques to jobless Canadians, ballooned in cost from an initial estimate of $24 billion to $81.6 billion, with auditors still unable to fully explain the discrepancy.More than 9 million people applied for CERB payments during the pandemic.
