An Atlanta software company is suing a former salesman who falsely claimed his 3-year-old son had cancer, and collected benefits for months.

Lancope Inc. tried to send flowers after being told Michael Ruffalo's son had died. The salesman said his son had cancer shortly after he was hired as a salesman, and was given paid leave.

A judge turned down a defense request to dismiss the suit, which seeks $40,151 in salary plus unspecified punitive damages.

Lancope's chief financial officer, David Cocchiara, says, "When you hear of somebody's child being ill and ultimately the child dying, you feel for that person... To me that's what makes this so tough to fathom."

The lawsuit says Lancope hired Ruffalo in November. Soon afterwards, he claimed his son Aiden had been diagnosed with leukemia.

The suit says Ruffalo also claimed his newborn son had a lung ailment.

Lancope attorney Robert Weissflach, says the company called the school where the wife was employed "to ask about sending flowers and it was clear after that telephone call that the child had not passed away."

He adds that neither Aiden nor his baby brother were ill.

A former employer of Ruffalo's, EncryptX Corp., had a similar story. The firm's president, David Duncan, says he hired Ruffalo in March 2005 and "within two weeks, we got an e-mail stating his son was rushed to the hospital."

He adds, "we tried to send flowers to the funeral home and they said we never heard of him."