Risky Business – Lying on CVs

Whilst the implications when someone has lied on their CV will to some extent depend on the nature of the falsehood, any job applicant who bends the truth on their CV will be taking a real risk.

At one end of the scale, if the employer has relied on an obvious lie in deciding to offer the candidate a job, it is likely to be entitled to treat the lie as an act of gross misconduct and (providing it follows a fair dismissal procedure) dismiss the individual without notice. Even more serious for that person, this could also be considered an act of fraud because they have obtained payments from the employer (their salary) by deception. Such an act could leave it open for an employer to attempt to recover all salary paid to date or even refer the matter to the police to consider criminal prosecution.

At the other end of the scale, a CV may place more emphasis than strictly justifiable on the degree of responsibility the candidate held in a certain role but not actually make completely untrue statements. In such a case, it is potentially more difficult for employers both to discover the extent of the exaggeration and to demonstrate that they relied on that statement in deciding to offer a job. Even in cases of “little white lies”, however, the employer could try to justify a dismissal on the basis that the employee has destroyed any trust and confidence that the employer had in them. Where the lie is discovered before the employment has started, or even within the first year (before the employee accrues normal unfair dismissal rights), any dismissal on that basis is likely to be relatively low risk.

[This article first appeared in the April 2010 edition of Independent Business Hertfordshire, which can be viewed here: http://www.businessindependent.co.uk/past-editions ]