A federal labour board says the Canada Revenue Agency was justified in using employees’ Social Insurance Numbers to identify workers suspected of improperly collecting pandemic relief benefits while still employed.The Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board dismissed a constitutional challenge brought by three employees who argued the CRA violated their Charter rights by crosschecking employee information against Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) claims.“The Revenue Agency had a legitimate interest in determining whether any of its employees had applied for or collected Canada Emergency Response Benefits while working for it and that doing so, depending on the circumstances, justified terminating employment,” adjudicators wrote.Blacklock's Reporter said the CRA used employees’ Social Insurance Numbers to compare its workforce against claims made under the Canada Emergency Response Benefit Act.“Approximately 400 employees were identified and deemed by the Internal Affairs Division to have committed fraud,” the Board wrote in Naherny v. Canada Revenue Agency.CERB provided $2,000 monthly payments during the COVID-19 pandemic to eligible Canadians who had lost income.Three CRA employees challenged the agency's use of the information under Section 8 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which protects against unreasonable search or seizure.Lawyers argued employees had a “reasonable expectation of privacy over their CERB personal information” and characterized the CRA's search as a “mass invasion of personal privacy.”The Board rejected that argument, saying the agency already had reason to believe some employees had improperly collected the benefits.“It is inaccurate to say the Revenue Agency conducted a mass search with no grounds to suspect that wrongdoing had occurred,” adjudicators wrote.“It might not have known which employees had claimed CERB benefits for which they were not eligible, but it knew at least some of its employees had done so. It knew that some wrongdoing had occurred, and it had a legitimate interest in discovering the extent of the potential wrongdoing.”.Federal officials have provided differing figures over the years for the number of CRA employees suspected or found to have improperly received CERB.Then-Revenue Commissioner Bob Hamilton was questioned about the issue at the Commons public accounts committee in 2023.“I don’t have the numbers right in front of me,” Hamilton testified. “Not very many, obviously.”The number was subsequently reported as 185 and later revised to 344.The latest Board decision refers to approximately 400 employees, while a separate 2025 labour board hearing referenced “450 possible fraud cases.”Then-Revenue Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau told the Senate national finance committee in 2024 that 330 CRA employees had been fired over CERB claims.Bibeau also said another 550 employees “were suspended or faced other administrative measures,” without detailing what those measures involved.
