How to Handle an Employee Falsifying Experience and Absconding: Seeking Urgent Advice

Employee Misrepresentation and Absconding: Seeking Guidance

We are one of the leading IT staffing companies in India, with 5-7 overseas offices. One of our employees has been working in our organization for 5 months as a recruiter. Upon joining the company, he stated that he holds a diploma in ECE and is pursuing graduation through correspondence. He mentioned a consultancy named XXXX as his previous company, where he worked as a recruiter, and they were receiving requirements from HCL America, TCS, and others.

Currently, we have received information that he is posting his resume with 1 year of experience at our current firm and applying for jobs, claiming to be a "project manager with TCS," "working currently with HCL America," or "currently working with Wipro Infotech," among others. Upon investigating, we found that XXXX consultancy is not a registered entity with an office in India. Additionally, he claims to have an MBA from a reputed institution.

We have requested our HR department to provide his documents, but they have not collected them yet. Some colleagues have also reported financial dealings involving him within the office. Moreover, he has not contributed to the company in his 5-month tenure and was considered a red zone recruiter.

We asked the recruiter to resubmit his employment and education documents. However, the next day, he absconded from the company, sending an email directly to our CEO stating he is leaving because the company lacks good leaders to train him.

We promptly issued a termination letter, yet the very next day, he is job hunting, claiming to be working with HCL America for the past month. Where can we report this, or what further steps can we take? Your guidance is appreciated.

Kind regards,
[Your Name]

This is an excellent case of HR lapse. There is very little that you can do now as the employee has already absconded. What you need to do is:

1. Send registered post notices to his residential address for not attending the office, and he may lose his job.
2. He has obtained the job by submitting false documents/statements, and he needs to attend an internal inquiry.
3. You need to take statements from the staff who have information on his financial dealings and include the same in the inquiry terms of reference. After giving a reasonable chance to attend the inquiry, conduct an inquiry and declare the individual absconding and fraudulent. Subsequently, you can inform all your clients about him.

Thanks,

Manish S Joshi

Thank you for your time and advice, sir. We already shared the termination letter yesterday. Now, this guy is uploading his profile with a fake employment history in various portals.

Regards.

The Importance of Thorough Interviews and Background Checks

I think that apart from certificates and work experience, the interview session also gives employers the chance to interact with the applicant. Specific questions need to be answered, which would render such applicants helpless in their quest to deceive.

I am writing from a developing country, in fact, a small country, but India especially is huge in almost everything, and you have to beware of such tricks in your department. Your HR must have certain predetermined rules to be satisfied before offer or appointment letters are issued. Make at least a call to the school where he claimed to have completed his education and previous workplaces. The Internet has made all work easy; you can check all that online. Do not let him provide numbers, please.

For advice about this very guy, check with your local law bodies, but in my country, this should be reported to the BNI.

Regards

Today, we checked his employment information forms and made a call to his previous employer. That person is not even aware of ES Technologies. He shared incorrect data with the HR person, and HR did not verify the information. Currently, this individual is putting fake experience on public portals. In one resume, he claimed to be working with Wipro, and in another, he stated that he has been working with HCL for the past month.

Verification and System Failures in Recruitment

The basic question arises: at the time of the interview before selection, why did the team (interview panel) not verify his certificates? Normally, a set of Xerox copies along with the duly filled company application needs to be submitted. Most companies are particular about having a minimum of two references. Before recruitment, minimum verification with the references is also not being done. This is a system/process failure. You need to work on strengthening the system and immediately communicate with all your customers about his termination; failing which, individuals like this take advantage of the situation.

Let the employees lodge a complaint regarding non-payment of the loans they have taken, if they have any documentation. If possible, publish his name and photo in the leading newspapers so that he is unable to manipulate other companies. Upload the details of the individual so that our Cite HR friends will also be cautious about him.

Regards,
Kamesh

Consequences of Incomplete Background Checks

This is what happens when you hire someone and do not complete the process of background and reference checks. Your company can post about this employee, his credibility, and fake credentials on company blogs if they have any. No MNC will hire him without a thorough background check process, so be sure that he will not get any job without getting a reference from your company.

Send him the termination letter and warning letters through registered post to his residence address.

Regards

We usually conduct background checks, but unfortunately, the HR person mentioned that she had asked the admin person to handle it, and the admin person did not fulfill that responsibility. If I share the details in this forum, even though he is active here, I assume there may be some repercussions.

The financial dealings I mentioned are not related to our company. He asked for cash from a few employees by offering abroad jobs using his external political influence.

You can share his details on this forum. This is a lapse from the HR of your company. You must take action against her as well.

I have checked with the HCL Technologies HR Team. They are saying this person didn't work with HCL until now.

I think a background check and document verification are essential before proceeding with actual recruitment.

With Regards,
Vineet Deshmukh

You are correct, Vineeth. We usually do the same. In this case, unfortunately, HR missed out on it. Hopefully, his next employer will not overlook this. He will definitely remove our company details from his CV because if he mentions it, his background check will turn negative.

Dear Manish S Joshi, There can be legal issues with uploading his name or circulating it to other companies. You need to conduct an inquiry, give sufficient time to the individual to defend himself, and after concluding the inquiry and receiving its approval, you may take all the other necessary steps. There may be another side to the coin that is not seen now. Don't get into unwanted trouble unless you are sure of both sides.

Thank you.

Sure, I will do that. As we have already terminated the resource and sent an email to management stating that he is not interested in logging in, there should not be any further issues, I guess.