What are the complications of hiring someone that has lied on their application?

Question

I have an ex-employee trying to get rehired. He worked for us when I was not in the hiring position. However, he filled out our new application and said that he had not been convicted of any felonies. When I explained to him the background check over the phone, he came clean saying that he had been convicted. His answer on the phone is contradicting his answer on the application. Any thoughts on what could happen if I do hire him without having him fill out a new application?

Answer 1

Should you hire him, get ready for more lies. It is your job to make sure all the paperwork is complete and accurate. You can have him fill out a new application or just continue looking for new employees. If anyone else knows about his conviction and also has knowledge that you know, it could come back to bite you.

Answer 2

Mainly, he has been dishonest and shown that he isn't completely trustworthy. If you are thinking of hiring him, you should probably play it safe and have him fill out another application, and then you might still want to run a background check to see what he was convicted of (I would have strong doubts about hiring somebody convicted of violent crimes, though I would have no problem hiring somebody who was merely convicted of victimless crimes such as drug use).

Of course, you don't have to hire anybody (well, unless you get accused of violating anti-discrimination laws), so you should look into his past record (you'll probably be able to find out how good of an employee he was in the past for your company, though you'd have a hard time getting information regarding how well he performed for other companies, with all the lawsuits these days) and you should decide based on all of the evidence whether it is a good idea to hire him back.

Answer 3

Where I used to work, they had a company do criminal background investigations on people who applied for work. Because it was in the financial services industry, personnel reliability was important. It was not just the people who handled the money, it was EVERYBODY. They even fired a janitor who was arrested for "delivering a controlled substance."

This same company also checked peoples résumés and actually contacted universities to verify that they actually had degrees. Yes, and they got transcripts on the people, too. If somebody listed a degree from a university that they did not know, they looked into it more carefully to determine if the university was a "diploma mill" or a real university.

There are enough highly qualified people out there looking for jobs that a company does not have to hire felons.

Answer 4

Anyone who has been convicted of something wishes it would all go away and wish it never happened. In a way, you don't want a liar, but in a way, consider what the crime was, what you know about him as a person, and whether you think he would do a good job. A 5 minute crime 10 years ago hasn't made him what he is today.

Answer 5

I don't blame someone for not wanting to admit to a conviction. If I were convicted, I wouldn't admit it to a potential employer. That doesn't make me any less of an employee. You can either do the job well or you can't. What I would weigh heavily upon is what was he/she convicted of and will this affect their performance.

Answer 6

You could attach a note to the application to update the information. I would think twice about hiring someone that lies about something that serious.

Answer 7

If you hire him knowing that he falsified his application, you will be justifiably fired also if it is discovered. Don't hire him as he has already lied on his application and proven that he is not trustworthy.

Answer 8

You could be fired. Why would you want to hire a liar?