Virginia Lawyers Weekly

For any law firm, large or small, the process of hiring a new employee can be daunting.

Large firms have recruiting coordinators and hiring committees. But small firms usually have one partner, maybe two, charged with locating a new lawyer when the firm has enough business to support one.

For those lawyers, after combing through resume after resume of unqualified job seekers and conducting numerous interviews, it’s certainly a relief once the applicant pool is narrowed down to the candidate who stands out above the rest.

His resume boasts a list of academic credentials from a top-tier law school, an impressive litigation history and years of association with a reputable firm. Just a quick, routine reference check stands between him and the job.

Only, law school records show he graduated at the bottom of his class. And his previous managing partner can’t seem to recall him. In fact, further investigation shows that he was laid off after three months of temp work at the firm.

Although usually less blatant, lying on a resume is not uncommon, and may be present among applicants for any position in the legal field, from partner to paralegal to firm receptionist.

According to a new survey by Careerbuilder.com, almost half of the employers surveyed have caught potential employees in a lie – from exaggerated responsibilities and skill sets to falsified jobs titles and dates of employment to unearned academic degrees. Some survey participants even cited some rather colorful embellishments (See sidebar, below).

The popular job search site conducted their survey online earlier this summer, with more than 3,100 hiring managers and 8,700 employees throughout the country participating.

While 49 percent of hiring managers claimed to have unearthed falsified information on resumes, only 8 percent of workers surveyed admitted to the misdeed.

It’s not hard to see why some people may stretch the truth. Law firms and businesses alike often seek candidates with a specific academic degree and at least several years’ experience in the field. Those who are just starting out or wish to change careers may have a hard time finding a job when faced with these requirements.

To appear more hirable, a candidate may also be tempted to doctor up certain resume blemishes known to raise flags, such as a short period of time at a previous job or a significant stretch of unemployment.

With today’s abundance of social networking and background search technology, though, it’s not difficult for employers to catch candidates who misrepresent themselves.

But according to the Careerbuilder.com survey, discovering a lie on a resume doesn’t always dissuade the employer.

Of the hiring managers who encountered an embellished resume, only 57 percent immediately dismissed the applicant. Thirty-six percent still considered the candidate, but ultimately did not hire him or her.

But 6 percent of surveyed employers hired the applicant despite their awareness of the resume discrepancies. Doing the math, that’s roughly 93 out of 1550 dishonest applicants who got the job.

It might seem like a lucky break for those unscrupulous job seekers, but their resumes could potentially come back to haunt them, even after they are hired.

In Virginia, employers have the legal right, at any time, to turn around and use the false resume material against an employee as grounds for dismissal, according to Richmond attorney David R. Simonsen Jr.

“It’s not illegal to tell an employee they’ve changed their mind,” said Simonsen. He explained that employees fired for fabricating their resumes don’t have much protection under the law, whether employers make the discovery pre-hire or years into the worker’s career.

When litigation arises

While wrongful termination suits over a resume lie are unlikely, there are certain instances when a former employee could make a claim against a firm or business.

According to Simonsen, employees can file suit if they can present proof that the employer’s underlying reason for dismissal was unlawful.

For instance, a plaintiff can go forward with a discrimination claim if multiple employees were caught with falsified resumes, but only those of a certain race, gender or age were let go while others were allowed to stay.

Or if an employee was suddenly fired due to a lie he crafted on his resume 20 years earlier, the employee could have room to argue that the reason for termination was false and pretextual.

On the other hand, if the employee is clearly fired for a discriminatory reason and sues as a result, the employer could pull up old records during the discovery process and uncover conflicting facts on a resume. Unfortunately for the plaintiff, this after-acquired evidence can be used as a defense against a discrimination claim.

According to Harris Butler, who practices in Richmond, while it doesn’t relieve the defendant of attorney fees and liability, the overall impact of the discrimination suit would be minimized.

“It limits the damages the employee can receive,” said Butler, “even if the employer made an illegal decision and wasn’t aware of any misconduct at the time of termination.”

While these scenarios certainly call into question the honesty and integrity of the defendant employer, the odds would still be stacked in its favor during trial.

“Virginia judges are generally not impressed with a plaintiff with that kind of wrongdoing in their background,” said Simonsen.

Still, employers should use caution when a reference check goes awry. If a job candidate isn’t forthcoming from the beginning, there’s nothing to suggest that he will be so during the course of his career.

Lies, half-truths and fabrications

In a recent Careerbuilder.com survey, hiring managers shared these over-the-top lies they’ve encountered in resumes:

• Claimed to be a member of the Kennedy family
• Invented a school that did not exist
• Submitted a resume with someone else’s photo inserted into the document
• Claimed to be a member of Mensa
• Claimed to have worked for the hiring manager before, but never had
• Claimed to be the CEO of a company when the candidate was an hourly employee
• Listed military experience dating back to before he was born
• Included samples of work that the interviewer actually did
• Claimed to be Hispanic when he was 100 percent Caucasian
• Claimed to have been a professional baseball player

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