A 39-year-old Brampton man is facing a public-mischief charge after he lied about a family member testing positive for COVID-19 to get out of work, according to Peel Regional Police.

On Friday, a Brampton business owner got a call from the man — an employee — reporting one of his family members had tested positive, police say.

In response, the business owner shut down and sent all of his employees home. He contacted police Monday, and through an investigation, they found the man did not have any sick family members.

"The information that we have at this point is … his only motivation was to get some time off of work," said Peel Regional Police Const. Kyle Villers, adding they're trying to discourage this behaviour.

"There are a lot of people that would like to be at work or earning a paycheque still."

The man will appear at the Ontario Court of Justice in Brampton at a later date.

For now, Villers said police won't be releasing the name of the business involved.

"The business owner already suffered a pretty substantial loss in relation to this, having to close his business and lay-off his employees."

"This goes to show the consequences of … faking this type of illness for a few extra days off."

The incident comes days after a worker at a Hamilton McDonald's faked having the novel coronavirus in order to get out of work, according to the Hamilton Police Service.

Anyone with information related to the Brampton case is being asked to call Peel Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS(8477) or by visiting peelcrimestoppers.ca.