Can I Collect Unemployment if I was Fired for Fraud by Altering a Doctor Note?

by Lynn

(Iowa)

I was sick over a month ago for 5 days. I called in to report my absences every day.

When 5 returned to work I provided the required doctors note. My note did not cover all the days I was gone as I missed more than expected due to a reaction to the medication I was provided.

I did not make it back to the doctor’s office to get a new note before returning. I had filed for short term disability and all days were covered there and the claim is currently open.

I was fired today for a forged doctor note.

The 11 was now a 14. I did not do this. But I am pretty sure it was my supervisor as she had personal issues with me.

But it’s now my word against theirs.

Hi Lynn,

Avoiding he said/she said is why my advice is to not just document to prove the truth to also be a fact, but to avoid handing the problem of deciding who is telling the truth over to an appeal hearing officer (ALJ in Iowa) as they are the ones given w-i-d-e discretion to determine credibility of the conflicting stories often told at unemployment hearings.

Either way an initial determination of benefits might go, it’s safer to assume someone will feel they need to appeal and the earlier one thinks this way in the unemployment process, the better off they will be .. because they have time to think how they will prove, or rebut the burden of the cause for a job separation.

But of course the employee should have easy access to the original doctor note to prove it wouldn’t need to be forged, or altered by the employee to rebut with the contention it was altered by a petty supervisor with a personal axe to grind with a subordinate employee. .. right?

Is there any possibility you can get your hands on the original, or unaltered copy of the documentation to prove there was no reasonable reason you would need to alter the doctor note?

Comments for Can I Collect Unemployment if I was Fired for Fraud by Altering a Doctor Note?

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She was fired for altering a doctor’s note.

by: Randale

So she wouldn’t be able to receive unemployment if she couldn’t prove it?

Hello .. Because she was fired by the employer for forging, or more precisely, altering a doctor’s note, it would of been the employer’s burden to prove it was she, that altered it to deny benefits.

But anything I discussed with this individual, was intended to show where she might look for a way to rebut the employer .. or it’s direct witness’s contention she was the one that altered the document (remember, she told me it looked to even her, like the date had been changed from the 11th to the 14th.

Even if one isn’t assigned the burden of proof to be the moving party to end an employment relationship, to me .. that doesn’t mean a non-moving party shouldn’t be also looking for ways to poke holes and prove (rebut the story of the employer) with a credible story and proof of their own, that explains the supervisor .. (or whoever testified at the hearing) is the one to of altered the doctor’s note.

That’s all I was trying to do .. get across what I think I would do, if in the same shoes and it had happened to me.

To not just lie down like a rug to be steamrolled .. when/if one knows they are not guilty of work related misconduct.

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follow up

by: Lynn

i could get a copy of the original from the doctors office…thats who faxed the copy to my work. the doctor was aware of the extra 2 days because they were part of my short term claim. as for credibility of this supervisor she took a piece of my mail out of the companys outbox and kept it in her drawer for a few weeks without telling me and it contained a 200.00 money order. i have proof that was never mailed out and a coworker saw the envelope get handed to me by the supervisor and i opened it in front of them.

Oh my gosh. If your doctor’s office faxed the copy .. how could you have altered the date???? Ask you doctor’s office if they per chance have a copy of the transmittal verifying the fax. You might also ask them to write a statement saying they faxed the note directly to the employer.

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