Fraud line tip caught City of Ottawa worker falsifying vaccination status

A City of Ottawa employee lost their job last year for handing in fake documentation about their vaccination status,according to the latest annual report of anonymous tips made to the municipality's fraud and waste hotline.

The report, tabled atthe city's audit committee on Tuesday, also showed another three employees resigned for various reasons as a result of tips made to the hotline, while 13 others received suspensions without pay.

The city's auditor general, Nathalie Gougeon, whose office reviews calls to the hotline, said common themes included "abuse of time, inappropriate use of city vehicles and equipment, and ...COVID-related allegations."

• City of Ottawa fraud line is being flooded with calls in 2021

The report detailed how"an employee with medical related duties submitted falsified documentation related to their personal vaccination status."

"The employee was terminated, and the file was referred to both the Ottawa Police Service and the Ministry of Health," the report said.

There were also three resignations, includinga bus driver who spent part of a shift with the "out of service" sign on and not picking up passengers, and a city employee who charged purchases to a city credit card that were not for city business.

This year's batch of incidents also included three employees who would takeextended coffee breaks, removed masks to smoke in city vehicles, and modified their time cards. They received 30-day suspensions. Their supervisor approved the trips and resigned rather than be fired, the auditor's report said.

Complaints up, but most unsubstantiated

A few months ago, Gougeon pointed out her office was dealing with a spike in complaints to the hotline, and wondered if it was due to far more people working from home during the pandemic.

In 2021, tipsters sent in 575 allegations including duplicates and some related to other complaints leaving301 reports in total. That wasa 48 per cent increase from 2020. Two thirds came from city employees, and the other third from members of the public.

Once auditors sifted through inaccurate allegations, plus those that wereaccurate but didn't actually constitute fraud or waste, there were 31 substantiated allegations to investigate and close last year.

"What is very important to note is while we received significantly more cases in 2021, the number of substantiated reports is similar to previous years," Gougeon said.

Among the many other cases listed in the 2021 fraud-and-waste report:

• An employee was found often driving a city vehicle at 25 km/h over the speed limit. They received a five-day suspension without pay.
• Anemployee had approval to receive overtime for working 15 hours a day, seven days a week for more than a year. Management learned of the "inordinate amount of overtime" and ended it.
• An investigation found a citysnow-melter was only used for three hours over the past decade. The loss for not using theequipment was estimated at$286,000.

The hotline was first created back in 2005.