Woman denied CERB due to pregnancy – Global News

Millions of Canadians have applied for the Canada Emergency Response Benefit program and millions of dollars have been paid out. But one Moncton woman says her application was denied, simply because she is pregnant.

Global News Moncton spoke to an Ottawa employment lawyer at Samfiru Tumarkin LLP.

“A glitch in the system is likely to blame, and was missed by the federal government as they worked quickly to get the program up and running ,” the lawyer told Global News.

“Other Canadians have experienced an identical issue. Based on the eligibility criteria, she should qualify for the CERB until she is on leave, at which point it would switch to Employment Insurance (EI) benefits.”

“If the federal government fails to fix this quickly, it could be considered discrimination on the basis of gender and family status, and all of these people would potentially have human rights claims against the government.”