REWARD INSIGHT
When a job applicant lies…
Danny Done, managing director at Portfolio Payroll, reveals how to deal with someone who lies either in a job interview or on their CV
A job applicant’s ‘white lies’ may not cause you to reconsider whether they are suitable for a job or not – those who would have you believe that they enjoy skiing and oriental cookery when in fact they don’t. However, some lies may mean that you are acting illegally in employing someone, or are significant enough to destroy the trust and confidence between employer and employee and can result in the employee’s dismissal. If you find out that someone has lied in an interview once you have already offered them a job, it may be possible for you to withdraw the offer. Even if the individual has accepted the offer, it may still be capable of being withdrawn if you have made the offer conditional on certain criteria e.g. evidence of qualifications (certificates); the right to work in the UK or references. Even though the individual has not yet started work, you may need to consider the notice period to give to the employee. Offering and accepting a job offer can mean that a contract of employment has been formed (even before any contractual paperwork is passed over) and in order to terminate that contract, a notice period will apply. The length of the notice period will either be ‘reasonable’ in the event that no notice period has been agreed at that point, or will be that which is in the contractual documentation if it is the case that this has already been provided. A paper trail is vital in these situations – something that a good recruitment and selection procedure will contain as a standard – so that you can avoid any allegations that the withdrawal was for a different, unlawful reason, such as discrimination.
So, a well-drafted offer letter, a copy of which you keep, is advisable. If the employee has already started working for you and you discover, or suspect, that they have lied, this will normally constitute a breach of the mutual trust and confidence that must exist between the parties for the employment relationship to operate. You do not need to prove that the employee has lied; a reasonable belief following a thorough investigation is sufficient. Contractual procedures must be followed in order to avoid an allegation of breach of contract when dismissing. ...a breach of the mutual trust and confidence that must exist between the parties... Length of employment will play role in decisions over the procedure to be followed, because once the employee has been with you for longer than two years, they are entitled to claim unfair dismissal. It is important that you act reasonably when making your decision to dismiss an employee once they have been with you for this amount of time. This is partly because dismissals after this point should always follow a fair procedure to keep you safe from an unfair dismissal claim but also because two years may well be a sufficient time period for the employee to prove they are capable of doing the job. Can you really say that a lie in an interview more than two years ago means you cannot trust the employee if he has since been a model employee? This will
clearly depend on the nature of the lie. If the employee has lied about qualifications which are legally required to perform the role then it would be unlawful for the employee to continue and dismissal would be the result. However, you must ask yourself why the employee has been permitted to undertake the job at all without satisfactory evidence that they hold the qualification. The questions you ask the employee may also play a role in ensuring that you receive truthful answers. Although not, or itself, an unlawful act, asking questions which relate to an individual’s protected characteristics is best avoided. An individual who has been rejected for employment may believe that the reason for the rejection was the information they gave to these questions and then, in extreme circumstances, make a claim for discrimination. The usual controversial areas include questions about whether the job applicant has any children; what their plans are in relation to having children; whether they have any disabilities or illnesses; even how many sickness absences they have had within the previous twelve months. There are some circumstances where asking specifically disability related questions on an application form are permitted, but these are very narrow. Questions on the individual’s religion or belief and sexual orientation are other examples of areas to avoid. Because the job candidate may be worried about your reaction to the truthful answer, they may be more inclined to lie. Choosing the best and most effective questions to ask will ensure honest, truthful answers to set the employment relationship off on the best foot. n
| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward | July/August 2017 | Issue 32 36
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