Doctoring of sick note? How serious is this?

[Lushmetender]

I have a staff member on second sick note. I should of got it at beginning of month. Have asked many times and we nearly had to send an awol letter. I thought finally it’s come in and I received it today but it’s clear to me the date of the note has been tampered with. It’s clear it’s been dated mid month but 3 digits have been tippexed out to make it look like the 1 st of the month. Eg looks as though it was a double digit say 14 - but the ‘4’ has been tippexed out. This could have been done by the drs surgery but usually they score out and initial it or could have been done by the employee. How seriously would you take this. Sadly I think the person is malingering and seems to be copying a co colleague who eventually got a pay out. I have asked HR what they think but wondered if anyone had a similar situation?

You suspect he has tippexed it so he didn’t have a gap between the two sick notes? You probably need to check with the surgery.

Do you have the original or a photo/scan?

If you have the original and can see/feel the tipex then you need to ask for the staff member to get a replacement that's not been amended from the Drs as you can see that the Dr surgery seem to have made a mistake on the one you have and it needs to be an accurate record.

Are they claiming SSP? Employees have been dismissed for fraudently claiming SSP in the past, it can be gross misconduct by the employee and HMRC wouldn't be too happy about it either.

I only have a scan but it looks like 2 big tippex splodges and also another piece which is smudges where the zero doesn’t look like the type face it should be. I’ve asked my HR but should I have the originals!

The surgery won't speak to a manager (or at least they shouldn't). If you have an occupational health service, OP, they can deal with this more effectively.
Otherwise, you will have to do as pp suggested and ask the employee to ask the surgery for another original, signed note.

Gross misconduct - dismissal offence.

Surely gross misconduct (sackable) plus criminal possibly as below - getting money to which they are not entitled by deception (doctoring the form)

16Obtaining pecuniary advantage by deception
(1)A person who by any deception dishonestly obtains for himself or another any pecuniary advantage shall on conviction on indictment be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years.
Obtaining pecuniary advantage by deception - Theft Act 1968

You have to prove it though. Does HR have the original? Presumably they don't accept photocopies.

You need the original and tell them it has to be undoctored.

We would see this as fraud of a medical document in the GP surgery. We have had them sent back by an employer to us and have dealt with them. Long time ago. Think we spoke to patient then sent the correct one back to the employer. Would take a dim view of it depending on the reasoning.

They need to phone the surgery and get a copy printed there. Ours takes 24 hours. I’m afraid I think it’s seriously bad behaviour and they will probably lose their job.

this is Section 2 of theFraud Act 2006, Fraud by False Representation and would constitute an interview under caution where I work (I'm a trained fraud investigator). It should at least be dealt with by disciplinary if you don't have a fraud department where you work.

Who has the original?

Ask employee for the original.

You wouldnt be able to check with the surgery, you dont have the right to ask them without the employees permission

You need to ask for an original, unaltered sick note (even if that means that the employee has to go back to the GP and get another one)

If it has been deliberately altered, it would usually be gross misconduct and instant dismissal because it is a form of fraud.

Yep, same at my employer. waves to fellow fraud investigator

A surgery won't get involved, it's patient confidentiality.

Strongly suspect the worker is relying on that!

I've sent scans in before but always posted the original on, they should be doing the same and if it's really bad ask them to have the surgery send a new, clear, one directly to you or HR.

I've just found this page - LinkedIn Article. While googling I found that you can buy fake sick notes on Etsy, so doctoring a real one seems a bit amateur!

I would straight up tell the employee that it looks like the fit note has been amended, perhaps suggesting that the surgery made a mistake with the original one, then ask them to obtain another copy.

If you still believe it is fake, then you could try contacting the surgery, stating the dates it covers and asking them to confirm whether that agrees to their records or not. They're not giving any personal or medical information by confirming or denying it, but of course there's a good chance that you'll never hear from them at all!

It's definitely a tricky one though - hopefully your HR people can help guide you.

I don't know about doc. Surgeries but as a HCP, in all the different trusts I've worked in, we're absolutely not allowed to use tipex, or any other correction fluid, mistakes are crossed out (but still have to be legible) initialled and dated. Some trusts may have a different policy, but I'd have thought it unlikely.

I would always require the original, which is then scanned for our records and sent off to HR

I'm a GP, if a fit note needed altering I'd do it by hand with a signature or issue a new one. no tippex! please let the practice know. This would be a complete breakdown in doctor/patient relationship and we'd remove the patient from our list and get them to find a new GP. And of course it should be gross misconduct/sackable offence.

The fit note says the employee should retain the original and only provide a copy to employer. You can't demand the original.

You'd remove someone from your patient list on the basis of an unproven allegation from a third party? Really?