How Should I Handle a Colleague Lying About Taking a Day Off? Seeking Advice

Dear Seniors, please help me. I'm an employee in the HR department. One employee, also in the HR department, took a day off yesterday and lied that she had a test. After investigation, I found out that she lied. In this case, what should I do? I have proof. Please also help me with how to start a letter to my manager regarding this situation. I'm really confused.

Thanking you,

Nothing much can be gained by catching an employee lying. It may be counterproductive. An employee may remain absent from duty for many personal or domestic reasons. As HR, what you need to look into is whether she followed the procedure for availing leave or taking time off, such as obtaining prior permission from the competent authority or intimating them in advance, etc. If not, you can advise the employee in writing that they will be treated as unauthorizedly absent if they repeat the same conduct in the future, and no wages will be paid to them. Such an advisory memo will be more effective.

Regards,
B. Saikumar
HR & Labour Law Advisor
Mumbai
[Phone Number Removed For Privacy Reasons]

I will advise a little differently. Why does one person lie? What are the situations? Provide solutions to the situation that led someone to lie and do not punish the person. Perform root cause analysis and solve that. An employee should never lie; this is your motto.

Regards,
Manjay
Malay Gauri Consultants Pvt. Ltd. | www.malaygauri.com

I agree with Saikumar; you can't achieve anything by catching an employee lying. It may obstruct the office environment as well. As HR, your job is to see if he/she has taken the leave with proper norms or not. Don't be a detective; just try to be a normal HR.

Regards,
Shakeel

No employee is perfect. There will be times when you may need to take a leave or be absent by providing false information. Due to personal reasons, she might have taken the leave. Moreover, as a female employee, she may not have wanted to disclose the real reason for her absence, so she provided a false reason.

Authorized vs. Unauthorized Leave

If she had taken an authorized leave or informed her reporting boss about the leave, then what would bother you? If she had taken unauthorized leave, she would be questioned by her reporting boss or marked as Leave Without Pay (LOP), and she would face consequences.

Even if you complain, it will reflect negatively on your side. If the same situation happened to you, you might ask, "WHAT BOTHERS YOU?" So, be a professional HR.

Today, the role of HR is facilitation and not policing. If an employee has to lie to take half a day off, there is something seriously wrong with your organization's systems. Please conduct a root cause analysis for this.

If possible, comfort the person without confronting them. Taking a leave is their right, and they can be honest about the reason or simply state "personal reasons" on the leave application if they prefer not to disclose the real reason.

Best regards,
Jaideep

Dear Professional,

I am a bit surprised here because it is not mentioned whether she submitted the Sick Leave Certificate for that particular day, which a hospital issued after the test. If an employee is taking sick leave, he/she has to submit the Sick Leave Certificate. If she hasn't submitted it, you don't need to write a letter to your manager stating that she is lying. You just need to inform the manager that she took sick leave but hasn't submitted the Sick Leave Certificate. Ask the manager how to proceed – should we give her paid leave or leave without pay? Always handle the situation diplomatically, presenting the issue in a way that your manager doesn't feel attacked or that you are simply trying to undermine her, even if you have proof.

In the second scenario, if she submitted the Sick Leave Certificate, verify it with the particular hospital. Bahrain is not a big country, so you may be familiar with all the hospitals.

I hope this helps you.

Have a pleasant day ahead!

Regards,
Rashid