Do you need to know if your staff have more than one job?

Earlier this summer, a public sector worker was found guilty of fraud after moonlighting in four separate jobs at multiple councils. By the time his employers discovered his deception, he'd received around £236,000 in salary and benefits. 

Facts

Between February 2022 and June 2023, Mr Howells was working for three different local authorities as a strategic housing officer, senior development surveyor and valuer, and estates surveyor. These were all full-time positions. Not content with this he also signed up to a job agency and obtained a fourth role with another council. 

The fraud was only discovered after one of his employers reviewed its payroll data. It investigated and discovered that Mr Howell's employment records and declarations didn't stack up. He was dismissed and they contacted the police.

The CPS decided to prosecute. During the trial, Mr Howell's said that he hadn't set out to decieve anyone and was not motivated by greed or money (I imagine a few eyebrows were raised at that point). He said he had a strong desire to work “as many hours as possible” to support local authorities where skilled staff were in short supply. 

He'd submitted timesheets setting out the hours he said he'd worked when, in fact, there were not enough hours in the day to have worked those across all his jobs. So he tried to convince the court that the timesheets represented the hours he was “available for work”.

He also said that he had “unintentionally” forgotten to declare that he was working for other local authorities when he applied for and accepted additional roles. 

Unsurprisingly, Mr Howells was found guilty of: 

• Six counts of fraud by false representation; and
• Three counts of fraud by failing to disclose information.

He's been sentenced to three years in prison. 

The local authorities say they are looking to recover overpaid salary, pension contributions and NI payments made to Mr Howells.

How common is this? 

This type of deception is not common. But it's not as rare as you might assume either. I conducted a straw poll of our 70+ team of employment lawyers and a handful told me that had dealt with similar employment-related claims. Most of these involved large public sector organisations.

I'm good friends with a line manager working in the public sector. She'd recruited someone to provide additional admin support to her team. They'd agreed the hours the employee would work and she understood that she had to work in the office once a week. She didn't turn up for work on her first day and sought to re-arrange her working hours (but not to reduce them). Those were agreed. 

Her work output was sporadic and not done to a good standard. During the few months she was employed she regularly phoned in sick, alleged that several close family members had died and rarely turned up to the office. 

The line manager was losing patience. The organisation didn't have a probationary clause in the employee's contract and its HR team wouldn't allow her to dismiss the employee without giving her more time to improve. 

The situation was eventually brought to a head during a routine management meeting. The line manager mentioned her concerns and one of the senior managers asked for the name of the individual. It was an unusual name - and the senior manager recognised it. She said that the employee was working, full-time, for a different department in the same organisation.

That's bad enough but the organisation subsequently found that the same employee had done the same thing a few years earlier. Despite that, it still didn't have procedures in place to check the employee's work history.

How do you avoid this?

There are some simple steps you can take to minimise the risk that you'll employ someone who's trying to juggle working for other organisations to maximise their income, or is trying to scam you.

1. Ask them if they have another job or are looking for additional work

Before you offer a candidate a job, ask them if they have any other employment. If they do and don't want to give this up, find out who they are working for, and how many hours they have accepted or are obliged to provide. You can then make a call about whether they will spread themselves too thinly. 

Somewhat surprisingly, limits on the working week set out in the Working Time Regulations only apply between a worker and an employer. There is no requirement for you to take into account a second (or a third or fourth) job if they work for someone else. In terms of daily and weekly rest periods, there's nothing in the Regulations to stop someone from taking a second job with a different employer even if that means they are working when they are supposed to be resting. 

2. Ask them if they have worked for you before 

And, if they have, why they left. Then corroborate this information.

It's helpful to include this question as part of the application process (that way it's in writing) and ask candidates to sign a declaration to confirm that all of the information they've provided is accurate and true.

3. Check their qualifications and work history

It's obvious, but if you've listed specific qualifications as an essential requirement of the job, you need to check that your preferred candidate has achieved these. Visually inspecting certificates may not be enough as it's relatively easy to buy these off the internet or create one. You can approach the awarding body direct or use an agency to do this for you. 

4. Include a probationary period in their contract 

If a new employee is not performing to the standards you expect and there's no underlying medical reason for this (which triggers the duty to make reasonable adjustments) you can usually dismiss them without having to go through a long-winded performance process. 

Having a probationary clause serves two key functions: i) it signposts to the employee that you'll be assessing their performance, and ii) you can impose a shorter notice period to end their employment during the probationary period - a week is common. 

5. Monitor their performance

If they are underperforming or regularly phoning in sick etc, find out what is going on. Ask probing questions, get them to provide evidence and set realistic performance/attendance targets. 

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