According to his employers, an Italian man (referred to as The King of Absentees) stopped turning up for work at a hospital in the Italian city of Catanzaro around 15 years ago. Despite not being there, the worker was still paid his full wage, meaning he earned around £465,000 over that time.
How the absent worker was able to get away with it for so long is now the subject of an in-depth investigation by the Italian authorities (unsurprisingly). It’s alleged that the accused threatened his department director, stopping her from reporting him. After that manager retired, neither HR nor the director’s successor noticed that one of their workers was collecting a wage without actually earning it.
It may also be the case that the absent worker was not the only one involved in this audacious workplace fraud. The Italian authorities are also investigating six managers at the hospital to determine whether they knew of the absenteeism and helped cover it up.
While newsworthy due to the length of time the employee got away with it, this is far from the only case of absenteeism within the Italian civil service. Indeed, such fraudulent behaviour is so commonplace that, in 2016, the government was forced to introduce a new law to make it harder for employees to abuse the system. The legislative move came after a series of investigations uncovered widespread fraud; from cases of office workers clocking in for a shift and then taking the whole day off, to police officers getting paid to stay in bed.
In the UK, employment law has a concept called “mutuality of obligation” which means that there is an obligation on the employer to provide work and a corresponding obligation on the employee to do that work. This is a necessary feature of the relationship between an employer and an employee. If an employee simply failed to turn up for work for a period of 15 years, then there is an argument to say that there was in fact no employment contract and therefore no right to be paid, as the employee did not fulfil their end of the bargain.
If you are experiencing issues with employee absenteeism, Nalders can help. We have an experienced team of employment law experts on hand to help businesses of all sizes with help and advice regarding employment law and more. Call our team today for more information or fill out this Contact Form.