Although termination is frequently the penalty imposed on a wrongdoer for submitting a fraudulent medical notes to excuse an absence, New York City Office of Tribunals and Hearings Administrative Law Judge Faye Lewis found that in this case it would be excessive. Instead Judge Lewis recommended that the employee be give a penalty of a 60-day suspension without pay.
The employee submitted fraudulent medical notes regarding a seven-day absence from work acknowledged that he altered medical notes to show doctor’s appointments on some of the dates that he was absent from work.
ALJ Lewis credited the employee’s testimony that he fabricated the notes using Write-Out in a panicked, emotional state after his supervisor denied his request for emergency personal leave, which respondent sought because his wife was suicidal and he needed to be home to care for his young daughter.
Although termination is often the penalty imposed for the submission of fraudulent medical notes, the ALJ found that in this case it would be excessive, noting that although the employee’s conduct was a serious error in judgment, his otherwise flawless 16-year record and the extraordinary mitigating circumstances made her recommendation of a penalty of 60 days suspension more appropriate.
Click HEREto access Judge Lewis' findings and recommendation.