Federal government to stop paying B.C. woman for job she doesn’t have

There appears to be an end in sight for the strange predicament of a B.C. woman who was being paid by the federal government for a job she was hired for but never actually did.

Vanita Lindsay said that she has been told the bi-weekly payments – which have amounted to nearly $9,000 since they started appearing in her bank account over the summer – will stop.

A frustrated Lindsay told her story to CTV News Tuesday, and on Wednesday she got a call from a manager at Employment and Social Development Canada.

"She told me that I wasn't going to get paid at the next cycle,” Lindsay said, adding that she was also told she would be receiving a letter soon about how to pay the money back.”

Paying back the $8.816.20 won’t be a problem.

“I put it all into a different account because it's not my money,” said Lindsay.

But she still has some unanswered questions, including if she will be issued a T4 and if she will be charged interest.

"It would be upsetting if they wanted interest,” Lindsay said.

CTV News asked a tax lawyer for her opinion.

"The short answer is no,” said Fayme Hodal, with KSW Lawyers.

Hodal says because Lindsay never asked for that money and has never worked for the agency, there is no basis in her opinion for interest to be applied to the repayment.

However, anything could happen.

"Might a wrongful payor of funds attempt to charge interest? Very possibly,” said Hodal. “I'd like to hope not. I'd certainly like to think in this situation that the answer will be ‘no’ but it is absolutely not impossible."

Lindsay is hoping once the money is repaid she will be able to move on, without any further issues from the feds.

"It would be really annoying because this isn't my fault, they paid me,” said Lindsay. “I didn't ask for the pay because I quit."

In July, Lindsay was hired for a work from home position with Canada Pension Plan. She changed her mind about taking the job before it started but received six paycheques before reaching out to CTV News.