Ok, go on, I'm listening.
A Commonwealth public servant's habit of forging doctors' certificates to take days off work was only discovered by his bosses after he went too far and faked having lung cancer.
The ACT Magistrates Court heard yesterday that the Department of Education and Workplace Relations became suspicious of its employee Ben Lyons in September 2006 when a concerned colleague tried to visit the 26-year-old's bedside, only to find that no hospital in Canberra had heard of the man.I can only imagine the sick voice that the guy had to put on for that phone call.
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.
Let me just say, for the record, no-one is more Australian than Public Servants :)
