Candidate created multiple GC Jobs accounts and wrote the standardized exam twice – Founded

Section 69 – Founded – Fraud – Candidate created multiple GC Jobs accounts and wrote the standardized exam twice

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 a candidate committed fraud by:

• creating multiple Public Service Resourcing System accounts on GC Jobs using different email addresses to apply multiple times for 4 external appointment processes
• writing a standardized exam for these appointment processes twice within a one-year period when the retest period for the exam was 365 days

Conclusions

The investigation concluded that the candidate committed fraud by creating 4 different email addresses and Public Service Resourcing System accounts to apply 11 times to 4 appointment processes. As well, the investigation concluded that the candidate also committed fraud by writing a standardized exam a second time within a 365-day period when this was not permitted. These actions were knowingly undertaken by the candidate to improve their chances of succeeding in the appointment processes.

Facts

Between 2016 and 2019, 4 appointment processes were advertised to staff multiple positions within the same organization. For all 4 processes, candidates had to successfully complete the same standardized exam to be found qualified. Of these 4 processes, 3 were for inventories.

The candidate created 4 separate Public Service Resourcing System accounts using 4 different email addresses and used the accounts to apply 11 times to the 4 appointment processes. Under one account, the candidate was invited to write the standardized exam and failed. The candidate received a copy of the exam results, which included a notification that the exam could only be rewritten 365 days after the first time it had been written.

A few months later and within the 365-day retest period, using a different account, the candidate wrote the same standardized exam a second time for the same process that they had been eliminated from, without having obtained permission from the organization to do so. The candidate was successful at the exam the second time using the different account.

During the investigation, the candidate acknowledged having created multiple Public Service Resourcing System accounts using different email addresses to apply to the same appointment processes several times. The candidate also admitted to writing the standardized exam twice under 2 different accounts for the same process and within the 365-day retest period. The candidate stated they had done this to improve their chances of success in the appointment processes.

The candidate’s actions could have compromised the appointment processes, as the candidate had more opportunities to be assessed for the position, both by applying 11 times to 4 appointment processes and by writing the standardized exam twice within the 365-day retest period.

Corrective action

Following the conclusion of fraud, the Commission ordered that:

• for a period of 3 years, the individual must notify the Public Service Commission before accepting any position or work in the federal public service
  • failure to do so will result in the revocation of the appointment
• if the individual accepts a position or work in the federal public service within 3 years, they must complete the Values and Ethics Foundations for Employees course offered by the Canada School of Public Service, and then have a discussion with their director
  • failure to complete the course or to participate in the discussion will result in the revocation of the appointment

Investigation File No.: 20-21-09