Worker Ordered to Return Salary for Lying on Resume
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After it was discovered that he lied about his skills on his resume, a British man was ordered to return the equivalent of RM530,000 he earned in prominent jobs.
The British Supreme Court upheld that verdict, overturning an appeals court's finding that he didn't need to return the money because he had completed the task for which he had lied to obtain it.
He scored three top jobs with his fake resume
According to The Sunday Times, Jon Andrewes, 68, has also served two years in jail after pleading guilty to fraud for falsifying his resume, which landed him positions as chairman of two National Health Service trusts and a hospice. He worked at the hospice from 2004 until 2016, when his lie was discovered after he stated his intention to retire early.
The Times reported that Andrewes went by the name Dr Jon Andrewes and claimed to hold an MBA from Edinburgh, a first-class undergraduate degree from Bristol University, a PhD from Plymouth University, and first-class master's and undergraduate degrees from Bristol University. He also claimed to have worked for the British government's Home Office and HM Revenue & Customs.
Andrewes, in truth, lacked all of these qualifications. He held a social work certificate and had worked as a construction worker, probation officer, and customs officer before opting to reinvent himself as a PhD candidate.
He defeated more than 116 other candidates
Andrewes landed the hospice job, followed by positions as director and chairman of the Torbay NHS Care Trust as well as chairman of the Royal Cornwall NHS Hospital Trust. According to the Daily Mail, the panel that evaluated him for one of the trust posts declared him an "outstanding" choice and chose him above 116 other contenders. From the three jobs, he made more than RM530,000 per year.
Andrewes pled guilty in court in 2017 to fraud and acquiring financial gain by faking his way into the hospice executive position. His "outwardly prestigious life was based upon a lie, and more accurately a series of staggering lies," according to the court that jailed him.
"They were repeated lies about your education and employment background and your experience, lies by which you obtained responsible positions which you at least probably, if not certainly, would not otherwise obtain, positions in which honesty and integrity were essential qualities," the judge noted.
"Of course, because of your fraud, you received an income you should not have received. Above all, what you did means that you were performing responsible roles which you should not have been performing and inevitably, that causes real damage to the public's confidence in the organisations which you deceived."
At the time, prosecutors sought to recoup the money they claimed Andrewes unlawfully earned as hospice head during a ten-year period. An appeals court ruled against it. The sentence was upheld by the UK Supreme Court this week.
They determined that ordering Andrewes to refund the entire amount, which is more than RM3,411,260, would be unreasonable and that a "middle way" was suitable because Andrewes had genuinely completed the job for which he was paid.
"Andrewes did a good job as chief executive and was regularly appraised as either strong or outstanding," the judges said. Their decision: he must repay $118,000. Andrewes now owns a curtains and blinds business with his wife.
What would happen if a similar case happened in Malaysia?
According to AskLegal, lying on your resume or during an interview misrepresents yourself to employers. Misrepresentation is a just cause and grounds for dismissal, as the courts have often stated.
In Khoo Kim Loang v. Kim Siah Electric (2018), Mr Khoo was dismissed barely three days after being hired when it was discovered that he had completely made up job experiences and payslips from a company that did not exist.
He attempted to contest his dismissal, but the courts compared his resume to one in an earlier case, also involving him.
The court determined that Mr Khoo had used an almost identical fake resume for both cases, emphasising that Mr Khoo's dishonesty was solid grounds for his swift termination.
In Kamaruddin Beedin v Indah Water Konsortium [2014], Mr Kamaruddin lied about his qualifications for a promotion and was fired as a result. Mr Kamaruddin sued for wrongful termination, but the court ruled that it was appropriate to terminate him although he had been with the organisation for 12 years.
In more extreme circumstances, you may be charged with cheating under Section 420 of the Penal Code, as was the case with the Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) lecturer who forged his PhD. The penalty under this law is a fine, whipping, and 1 to 10 years in prison.
In this case, a 51-year-old man registered to be a lecturer at USM using fake UK and US credentials. By the time they uncovered his lies, USM had lost about RM200,000 for having paid his wages.