The Impact of ‘working whilst sick’ fraud

• Increased staffing costs from covering the absence with temporary staff and/or overtime.
• Staff absence can increase pressure on existing team members as temporary replacement staff may be less experienced and/or qualified.
• Absence can be prolonged because the employee is obtaining a financial advantage from their actions.
• The resulting disciplinary, professional conduct, and/or criminal proceedings can be time consuming and expensive and may result in additional costs associated with recruiting and training replacement staff.

Preventing ‘working whilst sick’ fraud

There are a number of actions that organisations/businesses can take to prevent ‘working whilst sick’ fraud, these include:

• Having policies and procedures that clearly define and communicate to all staff their responsibilities in relation to secondary employment, i.e., are they allowed to undertake secondary employment and in what circumstances? TIP: this could be included as a standard clause in employment contracts.

• Having policies and procedures that clearly define and communicate to all staff their responsibilities for declaring potential conflicts of interest, such as secondary employment or business interests. TIP: A digital reporting tool makes the process of recording and managing conflicts of interest more efficient.

• If staff have declared secondary employment and they are subsequently absent from their primary role, remind them in writing of their responsibilities as defined in their contract and/or company policy. TIP: this can help to reduce investigations into staff who work elsewhere because they didn’t know their responsibilities; it can also deter staff who may have thought nobody will know if they keep working for another employer whilst absent from their primary role.

• Add a declaration to employee return to work forms, requiring them to declare whether or not they’ve done any other work during their absence. TIP: clearly define what work is, does it include paid, unpaid, voluntary, self-employed work?

• Clearly define the consequences of failing to adhere to relevant company policy on secondary employment. TIP: Clearly communicating that it's a disciplinary offence and that your organisation will seek to recover any overpaid sick pay may act as a deterrent to staff.

At SAFE, our team of experienced, professionally qualified counter fraud specialists can help your business to mitigate the financial risks associated with ‘working whilst sick’ fraud.