Six Million In Taxpayer Money Wasted Pursuing Workers? : CRA SOTW
Alan Baggett
Government claims low-income farm workers exaggerated hours to get
E.I.
Advocates for B.C. farm workers say the federal government has spent
millions of dollars trying to force the low-income labourers to return
employment insurance benefits paid out years ago.
Lawyer Sarah Khan of the B.C. Public Interest Advocacy Centre says the
case is a pointless waste of taxpayers' money.
"I'm embarrassed that this is how our government is treating these
people," said Sarah Khan, a lawyer with the B.C. Public Interest
Advocacy Centre (BCIAC), which represents 300 of the fruit and
vegetable pickers.
"I can think of a lot better things to do with taxpayers' money than
this."
The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has gone after hundreds of B.C. farm
labourers, many of whom are elderly and illiterate, claiming they
exaggerated the hours they worked each summer so they could collect
employment insurance. Court records show that at one point the CRA had
spent $6 million pursuing one group of 120 workers.
Khan predicts Ottawa will recoup little or none of the millions spent,
even if it wins every case.
"A lot of them are quite elderly and do not have the income to pay,"
said Khan.
"Hundreds of workers have been disentitled from EI, dragged through
years and years of investigations and appeals and, ultimately, hung
out to dry."
Workers say hours not exaggerated
Gurdip Kaur Sandhu and Tarsem Singh Gill are among hundreds of B.C.
farm workers Ottawa is pursuing for alleged overpayments of Employment
Insurance.
(CBC)
Tarsem Singh Gill, one of those elderly workers, can speak very little
English. In 2001, Gill was a driver and berry picker working for B.C.
Labour Contracting Inc. He claimed a total income that year of
$16,457.80, for 1,978 hours of work. The CRA reduced his insurable
hours by one-quarter, concluding he had been overpaid almost $8,000 in
EI benefits.
"I not wrong. I not lie," Gill said. He said he worked six to seven
days a week, 10 to 12 hours a day, "193 days, full-time."
Another worker, Gurdip Kaur Sandhu, had her insurable hours cut from
960 to 173.5. A grandmother who has trouble walking, Sandhu she said
she has no way to pay the government back.
"I have no money. I am worker," Sandhu said.
Employers notorious for falsifying records
Khan said it's the contractors who hire the workers who are known to
lie about hours worked. They will often record fewer hours than what a
berry picker put in, she said, to save on paying benefits.
"They create records that show workers work eight or nine hours a day
five days a week, maybe six days a week, when they really worked much
more," said Khan.
Ottawa has spent more than $6 million so far and will likely recoup
far less, says lawyer Sarah Khan.
Sometimes, she said, employers will also pay less than the minimum
allowed, then, in exchange, give the labourers an inflated record of
employment, so they can claim employment insurance.
Government documents show Ottawa is aware that employers' records are
often unreliable.
In the case of Gill's former employer the CRA writes, "Records as
provided by B.C. Labour Contracting are not credible."
CRA records also show the company owed more than $200,000 in GST and
payroll remittances, but, unlike the workers, the government is not
pursuing the company or its owners to make them pay.
"As of January 2006," documents state, "this account was referred for
write-off as uncollectible."
Gill said the owner of the company is still in business but operating
under a new name.
"We think that the government should put more time and attention and
money going after the contractors," said Khan.
No comment from Ottawa
A spokesperson for Minister of National Revenue Gordon O'Connor said
no one in the department could comment on the cases, because they are
still making their way through tax court.
The government is about to launch another court challenge, against
another 120 workers. That trial is expected to take 100 days of court
time, and cost taxpayers millions more.
During the last trial, Khan said, one elderly worker became so
stressed over having to testify that he had a heart attack on his way
to court.
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