Lied on CV - Help Needed

MacMickster

TELLIT01 wrote: »

The main issue as I see it is that the reference fraud was thoroughly thought out and premeditated. She went to the extent of setting up dummy e-mail addresses and then creating the bogus reference. What was she trying to hide and can you be sure that she's not doing anything untoward now?

The OP is the line manager of an employee who has admitted (previous) dishonesty.

I think that the OP needs to think of their own responsibility to their employer and make either HR or their own manager aware of this. If this now reformed individual should do anything dishonest in the workplace in the future, then it could come back to bite the OP if they had information like this about the employee but failed to take any action.

Guest101

SparkleDust wrote: »

Hello Everyone and thanks for reading !

I am looking for some help regarding a colleague of mine who has confided in me today... - what sector / job?

My colleague who I currently work with has told me that in the past she has lied on her CV, I don't know the exact details but she hasn't lied about any qualifications or anything and it was just lengths of employment and exaggerated sales figures etc.... - fairly common.

She left her previous employer by choice and they had no idea at the time of her 'lies' , they have since found out - how? and have told the previous companies about this (these are the companies she had lied about being at for a longer period of time)

She has been contacted by her ex employer and her previous employers to say that her actions have been reported to the police etc. - is your friend an attention seeker?

The job she is in now is the only job that she hasnt lied on her CV about....

I do feel like just telling her 'you have made your bed now lie in it'' but wanted to know is this actually a criminal offence and what guidance should I give her to solve it ?

Just not sure how the police would handle something like this or whether they would even bother over something that seems trivial albeit a bad thing to do.

Thanks for any help.

the police don't get involved in this type of nonsense

Undervalued

Guest101 wrote: »

the police don't get involved in this type of nonsense

Generally not I agree.

However, elsewhere in the thread is says that she also created a false identity to provide a fake reference. Plus there has been more that one employer she deceived and also we do not know the field of work.

Obviously if the current employer finds out they could (and very probably would) dismiss her for gross misconduct. Beyond that I would suspect it would depend on what loss they have suffered and whether her working without appropriate qualifications exposed the firm to significant risk.

If, regardless of how she got the job, her work was adequate and there were no outside consequences I doubt if they would pursue the matter. However if they were at risk of losing clients or being prosecuted themselves because an unqualified person was doing the work then that is another matter altogether.

Obviously the OP should report this within her firm but, that said, I do understand the dilemma.

fairy_lights

Exaggerating a few sales figures and the length of her employment seem relatively minor, but the fake references makes me more suspicious. Why would she not just use real references, unless she had something to hide?
There may be more to this than she is telling you.

Guest101

Undervalued wrote: »

Generally not I agree.

However, elsewhere in the thread is says that she also created a false identity to provide a fake reference. Plus there has been more that one employer she deceived and also we do not know the field of work. - yes sorry I saw that after I posted this, my fault for not reading all the way.

Obviously if the current employer finds out they could (and very probably would) dismiss her for gross misconduct. Beyond that I would suspect it would depend on what loss they have suffered and whether her working without appropriate qualifications exposed the firm to significant risk.

If, regardless of how she got the job, her work was adequate and there were no outside consequences I doubt if they would pursue the matter. However if they were at risk of losing clients or being prosecuted themselves because an unqualified person was doing the work then that is another matter altogether.

Obviously the OP should report this within her firm but, that said, I do understand the dilemma.

Totally agree with you, I'm unclear why previous employers are taking it so seriously.

HiToAll

Be careful, I knew someone who lied on their CV. He got 10 years in prison, and for 5 of those years they made him share a cell with 'big bob'.

steampowered

As others have said, the chances of getting prosecuted for this are very low.

The more real risk is that your friend will probably be dismissed if her current employer finds out about this. Perhaps time for your friend to make sure she has an adequate rainy day fund to cover her if she were dismissed?

The case mentioned earlier in the thread involved a man who was jailed for swindling £50k in fraudulent expense claims, he lied on his CV as well but that was not the point of the prosecution.

HiToAll wrote: »

Be careful, I knew someone who lied on their CV. He got 10 years in prison, and for 5 of those years they made him share a cell with 'big bob'.

:rotfl:

TadleyBaggie

If your current employer becomes aware of this deception in the future, and also discovers that you knew about it, then your job could be at risk. I think you need to speak to HR.

Enfieldian

This sounds incredibly petty on the part of the previous employers, what do they stand to gain from this?

As long as she can can satisfactorily perform the role which she is currently employed in then I don't see what the issue is.

As others have already stated, the Police are not going to be interested in this at all.

TBagpuss

MacMickster wrote: »

The OP is the line manager of an employee who has admitted (previous) dishonesty.

I think that the OP needs to think of their own responsibility to their employer and make either HR or their own manager aware of this. If this now reformed individual should do anything dishonest in the workplace in the future, then it could come back to bite the OP if they had information like this about the employee but failed to take any action.

This.

It is legally recognised hat employm,ent contracts contain an implied term that the employee will "serve their employer with good faith and fidelity" - sometimes referred to as the duty of fidelity or the duty of good faith.

You have been made aware that an employee whom you manage has admitted to acting in ways which were dishonest, that they have a track record of lying to employers and of forging reference or creating false or misleading references.

You don't know whether you have the full story - if the police are in fact involved then that suggests to me that there may be more to this.

Go to your manager or direct to HR. tell them exactly what this individual has said to you.

Make clear that you do not know any details and don't knowwhether this is the full story, or whether it may be more or less serious.

If you are confident that the refernces she gave to obtain the curretn job were genuine then say so, and explain why, and ifyou feel that she is doin a good job then say that too, but make clear that you felt that this was something which they needed to be aware of so that they can make any enquiries they feel are appropriate and sothat you are not keeping potentially relevant information from them.

If you say nothing, and it later comes out that you knew about the issue, then that would reflect extremely badly on you. If you are in supervisory role then this goes double, as your role includes managing your juniors and keeping your employer informed about relevant matters.

I think that you could, if you wished, suggest to your friend that she take some proper advice from hr union or from a solicitor.