CRA workers face office-space lottery as July return looms

The Canada Revenue Agency is granting managers limited flexibility in applying its four-day-in-office directive as the agency grapples with office space constraints.

CRA spokesperson Etienne Biram confirmed that only "limited individual exceptions" will continue "where appropriate." The agency aims to have workers return 80 per cent of their regular monthly schedule "subject to space considerations."

The arrangement has sparked frustration among staff. Union of Taxation Employees president Marc Brière said workers are angry about what they view as contradictory messaging. "They're mad because they're being lied to, that they are being provided with lip service and no answers," Brière said following a June 4 town hall with CRA leadership and Minister of National Revenue François-Philippe Champagne.

The core problem: more than one-third of CRA buildings don't have enough space for a four-day return. That disparity means some workers will be required to come in four days a week starting in July, while others get exemptions for a year because their offices are at capacity. Brière has called it the "CRA lottery."

The federal government has not publicly explained the reasoning behind the four-day directive, with a Treasury Board official telling Parliament it was a "philosophical choice." Workers want answers the employer hasn't provided.