Any type of “faker” with the primary intent to skip work should receive some kind of penalty, regardless whether they are faking the swine flu, the common cold or another illness. The main idea remains the same: The person is not taking his job seriously enough to follow through with his daily work and is lying to get out of doing the duties he agreed to when he accepted the position. Fact is there is always another individual out there who would truly appreciate that person’s job and chances are the “faker” will not have the job much longer if his employer becomes aware of his tactics. However, I can see why you may ponder a “special punishment” for somebody faking the swine flu to get out of work. Obviously, this person would have to call in to the employer and notify him about their supposed condition, at which point the employer would likely have to take precautions of his own and inform the rest of his staff. The fellow employees would then likely panic if they believed they were exposed to swine flu, especially if they had recently been in close contact with the “faker”. They may experience some emotional distress that prevents them from concentrating fully on their work and if they have children, they would probably feel even more scared. Further, if other “fakers” are present within the company, this incidence now gives them the opportunity to say they too caught the swine flu and stay home.