Former employee gave herself unauthorized pay increases
A woman who previously worked as an administrator for both the University of British Columbia (UBC) and the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority (VCHA) died in 2012. Years after her death, her estate is being ordered to pay over $650,000.
Wanda Barbara Moscipan held that position between 1997 and 2011, and she engaged in wage fraud and wage theft activities, according to the B.C. Supreme Court.
In February 2011, Dr. Geoffrey Cundiff, then the new UBC department head, became suspicious about some of Moscipan’s behaviour. He requested that UBC conduct an audit of Moscipan’s activities during the period of her dual employment dating back to 1997.
Here’s how to respond when employee fraud is suspected and confirmed.
UBC, VCHA audit finds fraud
The audit found that Moscipan had engaged in various fraudulent actions, including stealing money from a dormant bank account to which Moscipan had exclusive access known as the Gynaecological Professional Staff Fund (GPSF Account).
Both UBC and VCHA also previously moved money into that account, according to the decision.
Also, Moscipan had engaged in wage theft from UBC arising from her receiving without authority 180 per cent of a full-time equivalent (“FTE”) salary: 100 per cent from UBC and 80 per cent from VCHA), according to the court decision.
At that time, however, she was entitled to a salary from UBC only on a 20 per cent FTE basis.
“Moscipan forged signatures of her UBC supervisors and placed digital signatures of her supervisors on pay increase forms without authorization to award herself wrongful increases to her salary,” according to the decision.
Following the conclusion of the audit, UBC terminated Moscipan for cause in late 2011.
The court ordered the estate to pay VCHA $574,646, and UBC $56,436.
During UBC's audit, Moscipan admitted to the falsified timesheets, testifying she "felt that (she) was doing two jobs for UBC and VCHA," according to CTV News.
"Moscipan was obviously adept at fooling people close to her regarding financial matters. She fooled her close colleagues at UBC and the VCHA for many years, to the point that it took several audits conducted over a year or more for UBC and the VCHA to uncover the extent of her conversion and fraud,” according to the court decision.
She also admitted she had access to electronic signatures of supervising doctors and used those to give "merit increases" to her UBC salary without their consent.
UBC fired Moscipan in 2011.
The number of cases of employee fraud among city workers in Toronto has skyrocketed. In 2023, Toronto’s Fraud and Waste Hotline received 1,054 complaints made up of roughly 1,450 allegations, according to the city government.
