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Woman fined ₹3 lakh after forging medical certificate to take 9 days of sick leave
A woman was fined S$5,000 ( ₹3.2 lakh approximately) in Singapore after forging a medical certificate to take leave from work
A woman was fined S$5,000 ( ₹3.2 lakh approximately) in Singapore after forging a medical certificate to take leave from work. Su Qin, aged 37, wanted a break as she was not feeling well and was also worried about her mother’s health. However, she did not want her company to have a “bad impression” of her, reported Channel News Asia.
To overcome this challenge, Qin resorted to forgery. She took an old medical certificate and used Photoshop to make certain changes that would make it look like she had been sick.
Qin, a Chinese national working in Singapore, thought she could get her hospitalisation leave approved using the fake medical certificate. She was absent from her job at ETC Singapore SEC between March 23 and April 3 this year.
Woman forges medical certificate
On April 1, 2024, Qin used Adobe Photoshop to edit a medical certificate, reported news website Mothership.
As she lived close to St Luke's hospital, she altered the certificate’s header to read St Luke's hospital. She also changed the date of hospitalisation to between March 23 and April 3. Next, the certificate itself she dated to March 31.
Qin also blurred the QR code on the medical certificate, which ultimately led to her lie getting caught.
What happened next
Qin resigned from her job on April 4. Before she quit, she submitted the forged medical certificate to her company’s human resources department.
As part of routine procedure, ETC Singapore SEC’s head of human resources checked her leave and benefits. She came across the forged certificate and noticed the blurred QR code. When the HR head tried to scan the QR code, it led to a broken weblink.
The HR head asked Qin to submit the original copy. Qin, a software developer, created a new website and generated a new QR code.
She then used Photoshop again to edit the QR code onto the forged medical certificate, reported Mothership. This was her second forgery.
On April 8, she submitted the second forged certificate to her company. That same day, the department head confronted Qin and demanded an explanation for both forgeries. She was fired with 24 hours notice.
The HR head later filed a police complaint. According to Channel News Asia, Qin also forged her mother’s death certificate.
Court documents show that she was paid S$3,541.15 during the 9 days of hospitalisation leave. Qin has since compensated the company and has been asked to pay a further fine of S$5,000.
