A 30-year-old man who wanted time off for personal matters but did not want to take unpaid leave forged his father-in-law’s death certificate to get two days of compassionate leave, reported Zaobao.
He later faked another relative’s death to take medical leave. He was sentenced to 10 days in jail after his crimes were uncovered.
The man, Navar (transliteration), was charged with four counts of forging death certificates. He pleaded guilty to two charges on Wednesday (May 21), with the remaining two taken into consideration during sentencing.
According to court documents, Navar began working as an IT engineer at a company in July 2022. During his six-month probation period, he was not entitled to paid leave and would have had to take unpaid leave.
In October that year, he needed time off for personal matters but did not want to take unpaid leave. So, he falsely claimed that his father-in-law had passed away. Using his wife’s grandfather’s death certificate as a template, he forged one for his father-in-law and submitted it to his supervisor, who unknowingly approved two days of compassionate leave.
After passing his probation in January 2023, Navar was entitled to 14 days of annual leave and 14 days of medical leave. However, by July, he had used up all his annual leave.
Navar took one day of medical leave but continued to feel unwell and wanted more time off. He then falsely claimed that his uncle had died to request additional leave, even though he still had 13 days of medical leave left. He said he didn’t want his supervisor to think he was taking too many sick days.
To support his claim, he forged a death certificate for his uncle and submitted it to a different supervisor. Since the document was unclear, the supervisor asked for an electronic version.
To cover his tracks, Navar obtained his wife’s grandfather’s electronic death certificate and used it to forge an electronic version for his “uncle.” However, the document was missing a QR code used to verify its authenticity. When questioned, Navar claimed the document he received didn’t include a QR code. The supervisor believed him and approved the leave.
Eventually, the supervisor contacted the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) to verify the certificate and discovered the forgery.
In total, Navar’s actions caused the company to lose about S$1,130 — equivalent to seven days of salary. He was fired in August 2023 and has since fully reimbursed the company.
