The pandemic of medical certificate abuse is rife in both the public and private sectors, with many labor court cases in South Africa having decided that forging a sick note constitutes serious misconduct. A recent case of sick leave abuse in South Africa that found its way to the Labor Appeal Court again confirmed that an employer’s zero-tolerance approach to dishonesty and fraud was correct and that employees who are dishonest in their timekeeping practices will likely have a bitter pill to swallow when their actions are revealed.