Section 69 - Fraud - False Academic Credentials - Founded

Authority: This investigation was conducted under section 69 of the Public Service Employment Act, S.C. 2003, c. 22, ss. 12 and 13

Issue: The purpose of this investigation was to determine whether an employee committed fraud in an internal appointment process by claiming in their application to hold a bachelor’s degree, knowing that this degree was granted by a non-accredited educational institution and had no recognized value.

Conclusions: The investigation concluded that the employee committed fraud in an appointment process by submitting a false diploma in support of their application in order to meet the requirements of the position.

Facts: In 2009, an internal appointment process was advertised to staff positions in an occupational group that required a bachelor’s degree from a recognized university. In their employment application, the employee stated that they had obtained a bachelor’s degree in 2007, and provided a copy of their university diploma. The hiring manager accepted the copy of the diploma as proof of education, without reviewing it or performing additional verification. The employee was appointed to the position and received an annual education allowance under the collective agreement for the target occupational group.

Shortly after the employee was appointed, their immediate supervisor noticed that they experienced difficulties in completing their work. The supervisor asked human resources to share the employment application that the employee submitted during the appointment process. The supervisor researched the university mentioned in the application on the web and discovered that this university was a diploma mill, involved in a large number of court cases for fraudulently granting diplomas with no recognized value.

During the investigation, the employee stated that the university had contacted them by email offering various post-secondary diplomas based on their life experience. The employee accepted the offer and was granted a bachelor’s degree shortly after paying the fees charged by the university and submitting a detailed résumé and 2 reference letters. The employee was also granted a master’s degree and a doctorate from the same institution. For each degree, the employee received detailed course transcripts as well as awards of merit, all without having completed any university studies.

During the investigation, the employee admitted having wondered about receiving a bachelor’s degree and course transcripts without completing a single course. However, the employee later indicated that they never challenged the validity of their degrees. The investigator did not consider the employee’s testimony to be credible.

The investigation concluded that the employee had acted dishonestly, since they knew when submitting their application that the validity of their university diploma and the accreditation of the issuing university were suspect. The evidence demonstrated that the employee acted dishonestly by concealing these facts from the assessment board, knowing that they could not be appointed to the position without meeting the education qualification. The process was compromised, since the employee was appointed to the position without meeting essential qualifications.

Corrective action

After the conclusion of fraud in the appointment process, the Commission ordered that:

• the appointment of the employee be revoked, and that further to this revocation, the employee no longer be employed in the federal public service
• for 3 years, the individual must obtain the Commission’s written approval before accepting any position in the federal public service, failure to do so will result in the revocation of the new appointment
• for 3 years, the individual must inform the Commission of any casual work in the federal public service, failure to do so will result in the investigation report being sent to the responsible deputy head to advise them of the fraud committed by the individual

File no.: 18-19-03