Talk about Bad Karma!

The AP included a story today about a salesman has a pattern: he tells his bosses that his son has cancer or has died, and then goofs off for months. He’s done it three times, and this last episode landed him in court, he has to repay $50K.

“Lancope Inc. said in a lawsuit that Michael Ruffalo launched a tale of hardship right after he took a sales job in November 2005 as a regional account manager. He was given paid leave and unmasked as a liar four months later when the firm tried to send flowers after being told the boy had died, the lawsuit said.

Ruffalo must return $52,517 in wages, benefits and interest because he failed to answer Lancope’s complaints over the last nine months, state Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Fisher ruled in a default judgment this week.

“It’s incredibly hard to understand why somebody would do something like this,” David Cocchiara, Lancope’s chief financial officer, said Thursday. “Using your child as a method of getting money out of companies while not doing any work is not good karma.”

Six other technology firms that employed Ruffalo at various times dating back to 2002 had similar stories of him doing little or no work by claiming his son was seriously ill, Cocchiara said.