Some advice for those forced to repay CERB

He qualified for the CERB — now the CRA wants it back, June 29

Seems to me this man needs a better advocate.

The article does not say whether the CERB was deducted from his ODSP along the way, in which case he would not have an overpayment with ODSP.

If the CERB was not deducted in all relevant months along the way, then indeed the overpayment would be valid.

However, it would appear from the article that the worker who encouraged him to apply for CERB neglected to ensure he understood that he was to immediately report it to them so that the ODSP payments could be reduced appropriately, and that depending on the timing he might be overpaid for the first month.

In any case, if it turns out that he was not entitled to the CERB payments, and he has to repay them, then ODSP will owe him back the deductions and overpayment recovery that they did make. Meanwhile he is caught in the middle — he can’t repay the CERB if his ODSP is being reduced for the same (invalid?) payment!

The advocate should be able to arrange with the worker to reduce the overpayment reduction to ten dollars a month for a reasonable amount of time for the matter to be resolved. Sharon Riley, Niagara Falls