A nearly $170,000 loss was reported to Saskatchewan’s Ministry of Health in a recent report on losses of public money.
The Saskatchewan Health Authority filed an insurance claim for $169,968 after it realized a former employee had been altering timecards for almost five years.
For privacy reasons, the SHA would not reveal the name, role, department or regulatory body of the employee in question.
David Freeman, media relations specialist for the Saskatchewan Health Authority, said the matter was brought to SHA management by an anonymous report.
“SHA’s Labour Relations and Internal Audit teams investigated the report and contracted the services of an external forensic accounting firm to provide further analysis.”
The investigation into the report confirmed that an employee was amending timecards after they had been approved by the supervisor.
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“It was determined the supervisor was unaware of the employee’s timecard amending activities as the inappropriate changes on the timecards were then concealed by the employee,” said Freeman. “As part of the investigation, timecard approval process weaknesses exploited by this individual were identified. The SHA has identified and implemented process improvement and safeguards surrounding timecard submission and approvals to prevent a similar incident.”
When asked if the employee was going to be held responsible for paying that money back, the SHA responded, “The SHA was able to submit an insurance claim resulting in recovery for most of the loss.”
They say the employee was fired and no criminal charges were pressed.
Any fraud or illegal activities resulting in losses over $500 in public money or property must be reported publicly to the Standing Committee on Public Accounts. These reports on losses are tabled quarterly.
The SHA confirmed that it is not currently aware of any similar incidents at this time, however, it would not say how common overtime theft has been.
The SHA insurance claim was successful, however, it was forced to pay a $50,000 deductible.
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