A former Queensland Health worker has been jailed for stealing almost $40,000 from the department.
Karma Elms, 36, was sentenced on Monday to two years in prison, suspended after three months, for defrauding Queensland Health of $39,352.
The Caboolture woman claimed overtime for hours she didn't work on 46 occasions between May 9, 2010, and August 6, 2011.
On one occasion she claimed 69 hours' work for a period where she only worked 21 hours.
Including the fraudulently claimed money, Elms earned and spent more than $150,000 after superannuation and tax over the 15-month period.
Of that $75,000 was on cash withdrawals and credit card repayments and a "significant amount" on gift hampers.
Queensland Health hired Elms to help manage the increased workload brought on by the March 2010 introduction of its trouble-plagued new payroll system.
Allegations she fraudulently claimed overtime and penalty payments emerged after an investigation by the former Crime and Misconduct Commission, now the Crime and Corruption Commission.
Elms pleaded guilty to a single charge stemming from the original 46 counts of fraud in the Brisbane Magistrates Court on Monday.
Dressed in black pants and a black and white shirt with her blonde hair pulled back into a bun, she cried and embraced supporters when Magistrate Wendy Cull delivered the sentence.
Magistrate Cull said she took into account Elms' troubled upbringing, difficult working conditions thanks to the "disastrous" payroll system and "glowing" references from her current employer and associates in handing down the sentence.
"Your background is such that during a severely socially and economically deprived childhood you were incredibly resilient," she said.
"You did not tell people at school what you were experiencing.
"You did well at school and the day you finished Grade 12, you left your caravan home and an abusive third step-father relationship."
She supported her mother and had cared for a friend with terminal cancer until she passed away in 2013.
Magistrate Cull described Elms as a "very compassionate" high achiever with poor personal financial management skills who had gained "self identify and self esteem from working too hard and caring for other people".
She said several larger overtime claims in particular "could not possibly be justified as minor errors in timekeeping."
Solicitor Mark Williams of Potts Lawyers had argued for his client to escape jail time because it would have been detrimental to her financially and mentally.
A psychological report tended to the court suggested Elms may be living with an undiagnosed form of anxiety.
Outside the court, Mr Williams said his client was upset and disappointed to be going to jail but looking forward to putting it behind her once released.
He said her guilty plea showed she was "apologetic" and "remorseful".
Crime and Corruption Commission acting executive director, corruption, Paxton Booth said the sentence served a warning to the public sector.
"Dishonestly claiming and being paid overtime for work you have not done is a serious criminal offence," he said.
"If public sector employees defraud the Government, they can expect to be caught and prosecuted."
