Tell me lies – CVs and embellishments
This issue of CVs and embellishments has recently been in the news following Andrea Leadsom being accused of exaggerating her experience in the financial sector and glossing over certain job roles.
Along with the mistaken assumption that post termination restrictions are not really enforceable (a blog post for another day), I am often told that everyone embellishes their accomplishments in CVs and that this is harmless. Whatever Fleetwood Mac or your views may be on “sweet little lies”, it is certainly not without risks.
Legal position
Before fudging facts during any part of the recruitment process (e.g in your CV, interview, application form or through discussions including through a recruitment agency), please bear in mind the possible consequences, should your new employer find out the truth:
1. Retraction of your job offer: If your new employer discovers this before you have started work, it could retract the job offer. You could then find yourself in the unenviable position of having resigned from your previous post with no position to go to.
2. Dismissal without notice: If the untruth is only discovered after your employment has commenced, your employer it may be entitled to terminate your employment without paying any notice (although it will need to follow a fair procedure). Much will depend on whether the dishonesty amounts to a repudiatory breach of contract, entitling it to bring the contract to an end with immediate effect, but Tribunals often take the view that even small deceptions satisfy this test, given the mutual trust on which employment relationships are based;
3. It may be relied on against you in future: Employees who have legitimate claims against their employers will sometimes find that they are advised to drop these claims, or are awarded much less compensation than they otherwise would have been, because it emerges that something they said in order to secure the role was untrue. If this happens the employer will often argue that, but for this deception, the employee would never have been offered the role and, if the Tribunal accepts this argument, it is entitled to reduce the employee’s compensatory award to zero. Even an employee who never seeks to bring a claim can never be sure that a falsehood told years before will not lead to dismissal. In one recent case the deception came to light when the employer repeated the claims which had been made in the CV in its website biography for the employee, at which point the employee was forced to admit that they were not true.
Is honesty and integrity key to your job role?
There are certain job roles where an individual’s honesty and integrity are considered to be of the utmost importance. For instance, solicitors and other professionals are expected to act with integrity at all times and being caught in such a lie can lead to their being struck off by their professional body. This is also true of anyone who is an “approved person”, as it could lead to a finding by the Financial Conduct Authority or the Prudential Regulation Authority that the individual is not a fit and proper person, which has ended many a lucrative career! Even failing to disclose something important which obviously should have been disclosed (such as regulatory action which is still pending) could count against the employee. Certain roles will require employees to be checked by the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS), such as those involving working with children or vulnerable adults, and failing to disclose something which the employee should have known would show up on such a search will often be regarded as poor judgment, even if it is not considered dishonest.
Just say NO to being a Pinocchio!
There will always be people who have lied on their CVs and gone on to have successful careers. There is no way of knowing whether these outnumber the people who got caught telling a lie and had to face career ruin and/or public embarrassment. Much will depend on what financial advisers like to call your “risk strategy”. Personally, I could not live with the sword of Damocles hanging over my head.
This material does not give a full statement of the law. It is intended for guidance only and is not a substitute for professional advice. No responsibility for loss occasioned as a result of any person acting or refraining from acting can be accepted by Fudia Smartt or any other organisation that publishes this post. ©July 2016