Facing Termination After a Year Despite Good Feedback: Can My Employer Do This?

I have been working here for almost a year. I'm hardworking, and I have received client appreciation. Consequently, I received good feedback during my appraisal and have recently received an appraisal letter.

Now, my project management has started to talk around me, indirectly threatening that they will terminate me soon and won't provide a relieving letter. I'm a married woman and have a family.

Question:

After working for one year, receiving a good rating, excellent feedback, an appraisal letter, and a related salary hike letter, can my employer terminate me by alleging that before joining a year ago, I provided fake project experience?

P.N.: Prior to my current organization, I worked for a sufficient amount of time in a very reputed global big brand.

My project management is about to claim that I have cheated the organization, and according to them, they have conducted a thorough investigation about me. They will soon present strong evidence to terminate me from the organization.

Regards

I am no expert in law, nor do I know the situation in India. In general, if a company has decided to get rid of a person, he or she can't do much to save the job. However, if their action is unjust, one can fight for compensation. Please send an email to Madhu T.K., and he will give you better advice.

Have a nice day.
Regards,
Simhan
Learning and Teaching Fellow (Retd.)
The University of Bolton, UK.

"It is never too late to learn or improve oneself."

Did you fake any experience on your CV to get this job? Check your offer letter or employment letter for clauses regarding misrepresentation of facts.

All company experience is genuine on my resume. The only issue is that I represented project data as per requirements, which many employees do in the IT field to secure a job. During my time at my first company, I was involved in both development and testing projects as a fresher trainee. In my current role, I am working as a tester, and I have been a high performer. However, after one year, my current company is threatening to terminate my employment at any time, citing reasons such as, "You were a developer in your first organization, not a tester. You have falsified project data on your resume." Can a company terminate a female employee based on such grounds?

Consequences of Falsification in Employment

With reference to your post, there is usually a clause in an employment offer that states if at any point the company discovers any falsification or intentional misrepresentation of facts by the employee regarding qualifications, certifications, previous work experience, or during current experience, the company has the right to take action as deemed appropriate by the management. This may include penalties such as no increment, no bonus, withdrawal of certain benefits, or termination of service depending on the severity of the misrepresentation. Some companies are strict with such cases, while others may opt for alternatives, depending on the management style.

In some companies, when the management discovers fake experience or qualifications, they may adjust the employee to a different or appropriate role based on actual facts. This adjustment could result in a demotion, change in role or grade, decrease in pay grade, withdrawal of certain benefits, etc. This typically occurs only when the employee is an exceptional performer or has confessed the truth during the employment tenure. Again, this decision usually lies at the discretion of the management.

Regardless of the circumstances, the management must provide the employee with a written explanation of the offense for which termination is issued, detailing the reasons.

Reference Checks and Employment Verification

As for reference checks during joining, the process also varies depending on company management. I have encountered situations where candidates have successfully fabricated experience with a fabricated backup story, providing phone numbers, email IDs, and references to testify to the fake experience, often using non-branded company names or local enterprises. Conducting a reference check at any point during the employment tenure is an acceptable practice.

Hussain Zulfikar has put very clearly regarding the possibilities and options. However, please note one thing: You won't get any exemption or leniency on grounds of being a woman or married. I suggest not mixing up issues vis-a-vis the actual facts and company policies.

Addressing Your Current Situation

Since you mention that you actually did both Development and Testing roles in your earlier company [while your PM says—'you were a developer in your first organization, but not a tester. You've faked project data in the resume'], please check out how he/she came to this conclusion after 1 year. Was any background check done? Also, can you check if any of your earlier bosses [not just HR] still work in your previous company? If yes, I suggest talking to them and getting their references to the present company in writing through an email. If they can corroborate what you mentioned in your resume, I don't think you need to worry a lot.

Regards,
TS

In your case, first ensure your defense. If you have a strong explanation of facts and the turn of events, then draft your defense and present or discuss it with your manager. Take your manager into confidence, and if you feel he/she is convinced on your side, then present the defense to the HR department (if any) or management representative.

If this discussion is not fruitful, and your company wants you off the rolls, there is very little you can do. Do not worry or panic. Negotiate to get a clean exit with all relevant papers and ensure at least neutral feedback on further reference checks.

Seek another opportunity with an open mind and clear your facts in interviews with diplomatic answers. Focus on your strengths and skills, and do not get disturbed by these events. Look forward to a new beginning.

Hope this was helpful.

My project management has not told me anything directly yet. However, my manager's manager is indirectly threatening me and making professionally harassing comments on a daily basis.

My first company is a very reputed, globally renowned brand. I do not think that they've given any wrong information in background verification. I believe in their full cooperation.

However, in my current company, due to some politics, my project management wants to remove me from the project. But as my performance is good, they're not finding any reason to do so. Nevertheless, they're frightening me by implying all these indirectly.

I am honest and have not falsified anything. So, I hope nothing worse will happen to me.

Thank you for all of your helpful suggestions.

I think they are putting indirect pressure on you to quit, thereby avoiding the need to pay compensation.

In a way, Simhan is right—and in any such circumstances, the best way is to opt out on your terms. You mentioned, "my project management wants to throw me out of the project."

If you know the approximate reasons, try to handle and resolve them. If not, look out for other openings. But before you even attempt to do anything, I suggest you take the 'fright' of the current situation out of your mind. I am saying this since you used words like horrified, etc. Though it's human nature to hesitate or even be frightened, like you, whenever anything unexpected happens, it's also important to keep your focus and priorities right at those very moments. That will enable one to come out of such a mindset and evolve the right solutions for the situation/problem.

When I said above "the best way is to opt out on your terms," this is what I meant. Please start to look out for outside opportunities, and once you have some offer in hand, just resign here and move forward. You should resign not when and because they want you to, but when you are ready for it.

And please stop thinking about 'what they will or can do,' etc.—anything of their actions is not in your hands. So any amount of worrying or weeping won't solve the problem for you. What's in your hands is your response to the situation you are facing—suggest focus on the response/solution and just implement it.

All the best.

Regards,
TS

I don't think that I have any more say in it. Whatever Satheesh, Hussain, and Prof. Simhan have said is to the point. It seems that the present establishment is trying to put an end to your service. If they do say, you can ask for a copy of the reference letter because terminating a contract of employment without valid reasons and without offering an opportunity to be heard is illegal. If they do so, you can file a case and fight. It is obvious that there can be a slight difference in the profile written in the reference letter by the previous employer, and it should be read in that spirit only. Having read your feelings, I personally feel that the difference in the reference is due to oversight, which will not be maintainable in the eyes of the law. However, I feel that it is time for you to find an alternative job.

Regards,
Madhu.T.K