Help, I've lied about my salary to my potential employers and now they're asking for my payslips.

confusedsalesgirl · 13 March 2019 at 12:17PM

Hi, so I've got myself into a massive dilemma by lying. Can anyone please help?

I currently work in sales where my base salary is £25,000 and I've made about £6000 commission so far.
I interviewed with a potential employer, when they asked me how much money I've made so far and I told them the YTD on my payslip comes to about £42,000. They also asked me on how much base salary was, which I did say it was £25,000 and so the rest comes from commission.
I know, lying is wrong. But I wanted this company to be impressed in my skills, I am in fact very unhappy in the current company and desperate to get out.

I got made an offer of £30,000 from this potential employer which of course I am really excited to accept. Since I've replied and said yes to them, they've sent me a checklist of what I need to send them over:
Last 3 months of payslip
3 references - including current employer and when to contact them
Passport

The passport I'm fine with. The rest, I'm worried now!
My previous employer references, as I got on well with my managers, they would be happy to provide me with good references. With my current manager, I know it'll be a positive reference but what if the new employer's HR team ask about my salary???

The main problem is that they're asking me for last 3 months of payslip, what should I do? Forge them??? Is there reason that I can give to not provide these?

Please don't judge, I'm trying to get out of a job that's destroying my soul day by day and doing everything I can to move on for a better future prospect.

Has anyone experienced a similar situation to me? Can anyone advise me on what to do?

Thanks in advance!
x

ViolaLass · 13 March 2019 at 12:26PM

All you can do it tell the truth now and not lie in future.

[Deleted User] · 13 March 2019 at 12:28PM

confusedsalesgirl wrote: »

The main problem is that they're asking me for last 3 months of payslip, what should I do? Forge them???

Unless your new job is as a forger, that's not likely to impress them much.

Provide your payslips and hope your current employer doesn't tell them you lied, but that's out of your hands.

comeandgo · 13 March 2019 at 12:30PM

A new employer will always know your past year wages due to what's on your P45. You need to come clean because even forgery will get you caught.

Ozzuk · 13 March 2019 at 12:35PM

Trouble is you've given the impressions of your skills as a high performer in sales, which isn't backed up by your commission.

I certainly wouldn't dig yourself any deeper with trying to hide stuff/forge documents. You can either be honest, say you got your salary level wrong (which could lead to some awkward questions), or just supply the payslips and hope they don't say anything, or be proactive and state you hadn't earned as much as you thought.

I'd go option 3, probably the only chance of salvaging your job offer otherwise you'll be under a cloud - what if an ex-colleague joins, do you want to be worrying about this for the next couple of years?

ACG · 13 March 2019 at 12:45PM

Are your payslips going to HR or the person who interviewed you?
If they are going to HR it will probably just slip through the cracks.
If they are going to the person who interviewed you, I would not say anything personally, just provide them and see if they say anything.

As for the reference, it does not usually include current income.

confusedsalesgirl · 13 March 2019 at 12:46PM

Ozzuk wrote: »

Trouble is you've given the impressions of your skills as a high performer in sales, which isn't backed up by your commission.

I certainly wouldn't dig yourself any deeper with trying to hide stuff/forge documents. You can either be honest, say you got your salary level wrong (which could lead to some awkward questions), or just supply the payslips and hope they don't say anything, or be proactive and state you hadn't earned as much as you thought.

I'd go option 3, probably the only chance of salvaging your job offer otherwise you'll be under a cloud - what if an ex-colleague joins, do you want to be worrying about this for the next couple of years?

Thanks for the advice. Appreciate it.
I would say that yes, I did give the impression of my skills as a high performer, commission has been tricky for the whole company since the start of 2018. Whilst I haven't earned £42,000 this year, I can say that I have earnt over that amount from 2017 -2018. I've just had a very bad year as I was told by my manager to work on a dead end project solely for over 6 months that got me nowhere.

As the new company is only about the size of 50 people, I'm quite sure that whatever I send over to HR, my new potential boss would look at this. Its just giving me major anxiety.

confusedsalesgirl · 13 March 2019 at 12:48PM

ACG wrote: »

Are your payslips going to HR or the person who interviewed you?
If they are going to HR it will probably just slip through the cracks.
If they are going to the person who interviewed you, I would not say anything personally, just provide them and see if they say anything.

As for the reference, it does not usually include current income.

Feel a little reassured about the reference thing now.
As for the payslips, its HR thats requesting for this. But they are a smallish company, size of 50. I have worries the payslips might be shown to my new potential boss..

[Deleted User] · 13 March 2019 at 12:59PM

Id say lesson learnt firstly, don't lie about this stuff.

Next step is to provide everything they have asked for and hopefully the person who interviewed you doesn't click on that what you said doesn't match and that HR just use them to confirm you worked for the company or something.

The real risk is, that you resign and give notice from your job and start the new one and then they find out as they will dismiss you and then you are left with no job.

TBagpuss · 13 March 2019 at 1:07PM

Send the payslips with a note also attaching your P60 for the previous year showing the higher commisssion, and mention that the figures you mentioned in the interview related to the last full year, not the current year to date.

They may pull the ofer anyway - getting caught in a lie is a big deal, but that way you will at least have shown that the you are capacble of the higher figures, and they may puit it dwn to a miscommunication rather than a deliberate lie.

[Deleted User] · 13 March 2019 at 1:39PM

My reason would be sorry I cannot ‘access my payslips due to online portal issues.’ I left an employer without seeing at least two payslips and a p45 - because - password resets cleverly went through to my old work email address! that I could no longer access. These online portals can be a nightmare at times.

You could be stuffed though if they decide to hunt for the job advert of the position you are in now.

Though I’ve had Employers say show bank statements - and when I’ve gone to the trouble of sourcing to provide, you can bet it’s forgotten.

Help, I've lied about my salary to my potential employers and now they're asking for my payslips.

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