Some sickie!
Ben Lyons worked in the Australian Public Service in Canberra. He had some problems at work and felt like taking a few sickies. Nothing especially unusual about that. But Ben took it further, and forged doctors’ certificates to cover his sick leave.
But then he really overdid it, taking time off work and telling his department he had lung cancer, and needed time off for surgery. His manager, obviously a caring and sharing one, was concerned for her colleague’s welfare, and went to visit him in Canberra Hospital in September after being told that Lyons was having surgery for lung cancer, a claim supported by a fake letter from the head of the hospital’s oncology unit. When she could not find her colleague at Canberra Hospital, she thought she might be at the wrong place and tried Calvary, Calvary John James and the National Capital Private hospitals but was told none of them had any record of Lyons as a patient.
Lyons told the court through his lawyer Michael Toole that he regretted the episode and that after he was sacked by the department for the fraud, his partner and two children had left him because they ”didn’t want to be associated with him any more”. Mr Toole said the offending by Lyons, now 28, was born of desperation to avoid contact with his supervisor at the department with whom he had a poor relationship and this had ”caused some issues and some stress”.
The court ordered Lyons to refund more than $3000 in sickness benefits he was paid by the department and he was convicted of three counts of falsely obtaining financial advantage by supplying forged doctors’ certificates. He was also given a 2 year good behaviour bond and fined $900.
Damn expensive sickie – job, family, reputation and credibility all screwed, not to mention the refund to the department and fine he has to pay. I suppose thats what you get when you are too stupid to know when credibility is being stretched just a tad too far.
October 10th, 2008 at 9:12 pm
Hmmm.Okay,so what do we do with this bloke? File him under N for nong,M for moron, or U for utterly stupid? Obviously a few stray sheep in the top paddock. But I wonder what his workmates think of this OGRE of a supervisor.
October 11th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
What a tool!
October 13th, 2008 at 5:33 am
My wife works for the Commonwealth, managing teams. Some of this kind of stuff, while not as extreme as this is mind boggling. Working in the private sector you would be shown the door in about half the time.
October 14th, 2008 at 5:06 am
I’ve whined to a doctor to get a sick day a few times, but never ever would I go to the extent of forging sick certificates, let alone pretending I’ve got lung cancer and need surgery!! wow, this boggles the mind. Were his issues with his supervisor that bad that he couldn’t even think straight??!