Woman, 37, fined S$5,000 in S'pore for forging MC to obtain 9 days of hospitalisation leave

A woman who faked a medical certificate (MC) to obtain nine days of hospitalisation leave, while still drawing a salary of more than S$3,500 when she was not at work, has been fined S$5,000.

Su Qin, aged 37, a Chinese national and permanent resident, was working as a software developer and wanted a break from work as she felt physically unwell and was worried about her mother's health condition, according to court documents seen by Mothership.

However, she did not want her company to have a bad impression of her.

So, she decided that taking hospitalisation leave would be a good reason for being absent from work from Mar. 23, 2024, to Apr. 3, 2024.

She was charged with one count of forgery, with two other charges taken into consideration.

Edited an MC from an earlier occasion with Photoshop

Su used Adobe Photoshop to edit an MC from an earlier occasion on Apr. 1, 2024.

She edited the header of the MC to show St Luke's hospital, as she stayed near this hospital at the time of her offence.

She also edited the dates of hospitalisation leave on the MC to show Mar. 23 to Apr. 3, 2024, and the date of the MC itself to be Mar. 31, 2024.

The QR code on the MC was also blurred.

She then submitted the MC to her company's head of human resources.

Resigned three days after making the forgery

On Apr. 4, 2024, Su resigned from her company.

As part of the company's procedure for staff who have tendered their resignation, the head of human resources checked her leave and benefits.

She came across the forged MC and noticed that the QR code was blurred.

She then attempted to access the forged MC using the web link but it was broken.

The department head then asked Su to submit the original copy of her MC dated Mar. 31, 2024.

Submitted a second forged MC

Su then created a website similar to that on the forged MC on Apr. 8, 2024, and generated a QR code.

She then used Photoshop to edit the QR code onto the forged MC, thereby producing a second forgery.

She then submitted this second forgery to the department head.

Later on the same day, Su was confronted by the department head about the forgeries she submitted and was terminated with 24 hours' notice by the company.

The head of human resources then filed an electronic police report over the matter.

Court documents further noted that Su had been paid S$3,541.15 for the duration of her hospitalisation leave and she has since compensated the company.

In their sentencing submissions, the prosecution called for a fine of S$5,000 to S$6,000.

During her mitigation plea, Su's lawyer said she had been going through a difficult period, and called for the judge to show leniency in light of the fact that she had been remanded for a day as she did not have anyone to bail her out, Shin Min Daily News reported.

The judge noted that she had since compensated her company and sentenced her to a fine of S$5,000.

Top photos via NUHS and Singhealth website