Acts of Founded Wrongdoing
A serious breach of a code of conduct established under section 5 or 6
In the Fall of 2023, the Senior Officer for Internal Disclosure (SOID) at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) received a protected disclosure alleging that an IRCC employee had committed significant time theft. The employee in question held two full time positions in the Government of Canada and for a period of time, he held two full time positions within IRCC. The investigation determined that, between April 2020 and October 2023, the employee committed a significant amount of time theft during his regular shift, but also during the time he claimed as overtime. In addition, the investigation revealed that the employee misrepresented his productivity by falsifying his activity reports, and by sending emails at certain times, which misled his supervisors into thinking that he was actively working. The investigation found that the employee’s conduct amounted to wrongdoing as defined under paragraphs 8b) and e) of the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act, that being a misuse of public funds or public assets and a serious breach of a code of conduct. The employee’s repetitive behaviour, for that extended period of time, showed a serious disregard for the values of integrity and stewardship. The employee resigned from his work at IRCC during the investigation, however, is still a federal public servant, as of the time of this report.
The SOID recommended that:
- the appropriate authority within IRCC launch a recovery process for the value of the time stolen during regular hours as well as the totality of the overtime claimed but not worked;
- the delegated authority examine the actions or inactions by management, which led to the employee’s behaviour to go unnoticed for so long, and evaluate whether administrative or disciplinary measures are warranted;
- a copy of the final investigation report be shared with the chief executive of the department where the respondent now works;
- the data related to the hours worked for IRCC during the employee’s shift at two other government departments be shared with their chief executives;
- the department reexamine its guidance to managers on the approval of overtime in cases of employees who already occupy two full time positions in the federal public service, or in suspected cases of time theft;
- HR ensures there are measures in place to identify and mitigate risks related to dual remuneration, especially when an employee occupies two or more positions within IRCC; and
- a copy of the final investigation report be shared with the personnel security team, so that they may evaluate whether its content impacts the employee’s security clearance.
The corrective measures are being implemented accordingly.