Meanwhile in Georgia: Government Official Fakes Pregnancy to Get Paid Time Off, Fails to Realize Maternity Leave in This Country Sucks

We’ve all pulled a Ferris Bueller from time to time, faking illness to take time off from work. It’s all good, innocent fun. But one Georgia official took that concept a little too far…and learned a valuable lesson in the process: crime doesn’t pay — and neither does maternity leave!

Her name is Robin Folsom, and the 43-year-old was the director of external affairs for the state’s Vocational Rehabilitation Agency. According to reports, she faked a pregnancy in order to cash in on family leave benefits.

Coworkers first became suspicious when one saw Folsom’s baby bump “come away” from her body. Then, her bosses received an email from a mysterious baby daddy named Bran Otmembebwe indicating that Folsom was on doctor-ordered bedrest for several weeks after giving birth in May 2021. Finally, Folsom sent her co-workers photos of her alleged newborn, but the skin tone was inconsistent from pic to pic.

Even more outrageous? This wasn’t the first time she was pseudo-pregnant. According to the New York Post, Folsom claimed to have given birth in July 2020 and said she got knocked up again in August of 2021. (That would be three births in as many years, which is pretty much unheard of for a woman of her age.) But there were no medical records to back any of this up. When investigators finally figured out that they had been duped, Folsom resigned.

“All state employees, and especially those that communicate with the media and general public on behalf on their agency, should be held to the highest standards of integrity and honesty,” IG Scott McAfee said in a statement. “OIG will continue to hold state employees accountable if they choose to deceive their superiors and receive undeserved compensation.”

The real joke, though, is on Folsom, because maternity leave in this country sucks. If you’re going to con your employer, you’d be better off faking, oh, pretty much any other medical condition. Oh well. You live, you learn. Next time, she’ll cry cancer.

Cover Photo: Twitter

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