Janet in Other News On April 7, 2021, 6:03 pm

Woman Fakes Positive COVID-19 Test Results To Skip Work, Causes Workplace To Close For Disinfection

Woman fakes positive COVID-19 test results

The pandemic has been a longer-than-expected journey that’s made us all wary of COVID-19 and the effects that it has had on our communities. As such, we have all been trying our best to be responsible by adhering to guidelines set out by the government to help curb the spread of the virus while we wait for vaccinations to be rolled out.

However, there are still some who have yet to fully comprehend the impacts of the pandemic on individuals and businesses. An employer at JWC, a cafe in JB with locations in Puchong too, had a tale to tell. He had an employee lie about testing positive for COVID-19 by having her friend forge a fake diagnosis letter – all to resign from her job, after only having worked a day at the cafe.

Lied about positive COVID-19 test after one day of work

Justin Tay, who is an employer at 酉 BY JWC, took to Facebook on 6th April 2021 to share the incident that had affected the cafe, as well as its workers and patrons. He said he did so to warn other F&B industries in Johor to be vigilant when hiring new employees after he encountered one who had faked COVID-19 positive test results to resign from her position as a waitress at the cafe.

The cafe had to close their doors to patrons yesterday
Image credit: Justin Tay

According to the post, he received a message from the employee a day after her first – and only – day of work at the cafe saying that she tested positive for COVID-19. To abide by guidelines set out by the government, the cafe’s management team immediately closed the cafe for disinfection, and had staff who had worked on the same day as her get tested for COVID-19.

They also had to reach out to their patrons to let them know that they had been in close contact with the employee. Justin also shared that he spent a whole day at the clinic and police station.

Snippet of text conversation between Justin and the employee. The employee claimed that she got tested with her friend for work safety purposes, and that she would quit her job at the cafe as suggested by her parents and find another job after self-isolating.
Image credit: Justin Tay

However, suspicions about the employee’s test arose when Justin found a discrepancy between the date of the employee’s COVID-19 diagnosis and when she had informed the cafe’s management of her test results. After pressing her for an explanation for the mix-up, the employee finally confessed that the diagnosis was fake, and that she had not been tested positive for COVID-19.

She also admitted that her friend had used Photoshop to manipulate information on the letter because she didn’t want to go to work.

Not wanting to jump to conclusions, Justin invited the employee and her parents out to sort out the incident. But the conversation left him frustrated, as the employee’s father allegedly said that his daughter had done nothing wrong.

“Positive” result from employee’s COVID-19 test
Image credit: Justin Tay

Employee currently being investigated by police

According to a report by Sin Chew Daily, the woman, aged 19 years old, is currently being investigated by the police after Justin filed a police report about the incident. In an interview with the Chinese news site, he shared that he learnt that she had forged the document after he, and 12 other employees at the cafe, were undergoing their COVID-19 swab test and received their results in 10 minutes.

The woman had apparently got tested on 4th April, and only received her results a day later on 5th April.

Police report that Justin filed against the employee
Image credit: Justin Tay

She had also reportedly resorted to faking the test results so she could resign from work, as she was worried that the company wouldn’t accept other given reasons. Because of the incident, the cafe is said to have lost thousands of ringgit, due to forking out the cost to get its employees tested for COVID-19. The management was also worried that patrons would be affected by news that one of their employees tested “positive” for COVID-19.

Woman fakes COVID-19 positive test results to resign from work

COVID-19 is not a light matter, as the virus is still rampant in our community and affecting many individuals. So this woman who faked positive COVID-19 test results and is now being investigated by the polive serves as a reminder to all to always be honest about testing positive or negative for COVID-19. We should not be using it as an excuse for any matter, as our family, friends and neighbours can be put at risk if we falsify test results.