'Not logged on' | WFH employee caught lying about working hours was fairly sacked

An employee who was found to have falsified her timesheets by at least 53 hours was fairly dismissed for gross misconduct, an employment tribunal has ruled.

Ms S Wiltshire, a Senior Finance Co-ordinator at Bath Spa University Students’ Union, was dismissed in February 2024 after a disciplinary investigation uncovered significant discrepancies between her self-recorded working hours and IT system logs. Wiltshire claimed unfair dismissal, but the tribunal found her claim was “unfounded and is dismissed”.

Falsified hours while working from home

Wiltshire had worked at the Students’ Union since April 2017. In late 2023, her line manager, Head of Finance Gail Boulton, began a review of the finance team’s capacity and performance. As part of this process, she asked Wiltshire to record how long she spent on various tasks. When Wiltshire refused to complete the form, Boulton cross-checked IT logs against Wiltshire’s flexitime records.

Looking for more

Rising temps | Heatwave sparks renewed calls for workplace protections

The tribunal heard that between 23 October 2023 and 12 January 2024, the IT logs showed Wiltshire had overstated her working hours by at least 45 hours. In particular, the logs indicated her start and finish times often did not align with when her work laptop connected to the Students’ Union’s network. The discrepancies mainly occurred on days when Wiltshire worked from home, especially in the mornings.