EmployeeScreenIQ Blog

Move over Marilee Jones, you have some company.  For those of you who don’t remember, Marilee Jones was the Director of Admissions at M.I.T. and was caught lying on her resume a few years back.  Colleges and Universities have long been known for their lax approach to screening employees, fortunately in the last few years many of them have stepped up their efforts.  The latest blunder has Texas A&M University reviewing its current hiring practices after an administrator now admits lying on his resume.

Ex-A&M administrator admits lying on resume

BRYAN, Texas — A former Texas A&M University administrator who quit in June amid questions about padding his resume has pleaded guilty and been fined $2,000.

Alexander Kemos on Wednesday pleaded guilty in Bryan to a misdemeanor charge of using a fraudulent, substandard or fictitious degree. He also must pay court costs.

Kemos attorney Jim James says his client admits adding to his resume in violation of the law and regrets the incident. James says the 50-year-old Kemos also says no one at A&M knew of the false portions of his resume.

Kemos, who was hired in 2009, was senior vice president for administration. He falsely claimed to be a former Navy SEAL with advanced degrees from Tufts University.

A&M is auditing its hiring practices.

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EmployeeScreenIQ’s Nick Fishman will be speaking at the Wisconsin State SHRM Conference in Appleton, WI at the Radisson Paper Valley Hotel and Conference Center on October 7, 2010 at 10:30am.

Technology has dramatically changed the way we compete for talent and screen prospective employees, but nothing approaches the impact of social networking.  With the widespread use of Facebook, LinkedIn, and other sites comes a new wave of legal liabilities for both recruiters and screeners. Other emerging technology threats include online diploma fraud, employment mills that manufacture work experience, screen scraping, and more.  Employers need to develop best practices and policies in order to successfully manage Web 2.0 technologies.

Join EmployeeScreenIQ’s Chief Marketing Office,  Nick Fishman for an informative session about how to protect your company in the age of Facebook.  You’ll learn which social networking sites are most popular with recruiters and applicants, and their impact on employment screening and the hiring process.  Attendees will also learn how to develop a social media policy and spot the warning signs of diploma and employment mills.  Finally, you’ll examine other Web 2.0 trends such as screen scraping and instant screening.

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Here’s an interesting take on how a company can use terminated employee’s resume lies as a defense against claims of discrimination and, or retaliation. Check out this post by labor and employment attorney Jeffrey T. Rosenberg. The only catch seems to be that if you knew about the resume fraud after conducting an employment background check and still hired this person, the defense probably goes out the window. Then again, if you knew about it, why would you hire them?

As an employment attorney practicing in New York City, I feel obligated to clarify the negative consequences that can occur as a result of lying on a resume. Most cases concerning falsified resumes arise from situations in which an employee has been terminated for reasons other than lying on his or her resume (ex. poor work performance). After being terminated, the employee commences a lawsuit for unlawful discrimination and/or retaliation, and during discovery, the employer discovers for the first time that the employee’s resume that was submitted with the original job application had been falsified and is fraudulent.
Because the evidence of the resume fraud was first discovered after the termination had already occurred, this new information is called “after-acquired evidence,” and can be used by the employer as a defense to the claims of discrimination and/or retaliation.

In fact, in Quinby v. WestLB AG (2007), the Southern District of New York (federal court covering Manhattan) held that a plaintiff will not be entitled to certain remedies, such as reinstatement and front pay, if the employer can show that it would have terminated the employee anyway based on information that was not acquired until after she was terminated. However, the party asserting the “after-acquired evidence” defense must establish that the wrongdoing was of such severity that the employee would have been terminated on those grounds alone if the employer had known of it at the time of the termination.

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Well congratulations to me.  I just completed my Masters of Business Administration (MBA) coursework and earned a graduate degree.  Mom and Dad are as proud as they could be.  And thanks to our tuition reimbursement program at EmployeeScreenIQ, continuing education didn’t cost me a dime.  I’ll admit, it was a lot of hard work, but seeing that degree on the wall is all the validation I need to know that it was worth all the blood, sweat and tears.

Now, let’s evaluate the above when the truth is inserted in place of the lies and deception.

Well congratulations to me.  I just completed paid for my Masters of Business Administration (MBA) coursework and earned they shipped me a graduate degree.  Mom and Dad are as proud as they could be would never approve of this type of academic fraud.  And thanks to our tuition reimbursement program at EmployeeScreenIQ, continuing education didn’t cost me a dime (this part was true. I expensed the cost to my company).  I’ll admit, it was a lot of hard work finding a diploma mill, but seeing that degree on the wall is all the validation I need to know that it was worth all the blood, sweat and tears.

Let me tell you how easy it was for me to “earn” my MBA.  I found an online diploma mill and with a couple keystrokes, input my information, the degree I wanted and my area of focus.  I then paid the $150.00 fee and in just 10 days I had a very authentic-looking diploma with a raised seal and everything.  The package was sent from Portugal and included information for how I could have the degree verified.

Do you have a good practice in place to ensure that your job applicants and employees haven’t committed this same type of fraud?

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Thank you Congressman Michael Vaughn.  It is folks like you who make background screeners like me excited about my next blog post.  You claimed on your website to have played for the Dallas Cowboys in 1980.  Not according to the Dallas Cowboys.  When questioned about this, you showed your NFL Players Alumni Association card.  And for $150, I too can be the proud owner of one of those bad boys.  Doh!

It gets better (or worse).  You next blamed your web developer for the misinformation and quickly pulled it off your website.  Well my friend, you might not have played for the Cowboys but you sure did fumble this one away.

This remind me of a situation I ran into several years ago.  I met a C-Level executive at a Fortune 100 organization several years ago whom I became friendly with.  When he was getting ready to invest in a new business, he asked me to perform a background check on the principals of the company he was interested in.  They, in turn asked him to submit to a background check as well.  They both engaged us to conduct the checks.  A day later, I got a phone call from this executive and he asked if our background check would reveal that he never played college basketball for a major university.  I didn’t have to ask why, but learned a valuable lesson.  People tell stupid lies for stupid reason and while those lies are inconsequential, they usually come back to bite you.

I’m sure Congressman Vaughn had nothing to gain other than propping up his ego for lying about his football exploits.  Was it worth it?

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A Jet Blue flight attendant quit his job in a very interesting way on Monday.  I’ll refrain from paraphrasing because I believe this article does it enough justice.  Should any future employer  conduct an employment verification with Jet Blue, he can pretty much bank on not receiving a good reference.  Not to mention he may also have to explain a stint in prison.  Best of luck buddy!

Cursing, beer and a popped chute as flight attendant quits

New York (CNN) — Call them the not-so-friendly skies.

A flight attendant cursed out passengers, grabbed a beer then triggered an emergency chute Monday at a JFK Airport terminal, authorities say.

New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said it “appears” Steven Slater was quitting.

“It’s a strange way to quit, let’s put it that way,” he said. “I don’t think he’ll be able to come back.”

Police arrested Slater for allegedly triggering the emergency escape chute, a spokeswoman for the district attorney said.

Slater was arrested at his home and charged with criminal mischief, reckless endangerment and criminal trespass, said Helen Peterson at the Queens District Attorney’s Office.

The incident took place just after the Jet Blue flight landed when a passenger stood to remove a bag from the overhead bin while the plane was still taxiing, a law enforcement source with direct knowledge said. A flight attendant exchanged words with the passenger, and the conversation escalated.

Slater picked up the intercom and used expletives directed at the passengers, according to a source with knowledge of the investigation. It is not clear exactly what was said on the intercom. The source said that when the plane at stopped at the gate, Slater then grabbed some beer from the beverage cart before deploying the emergency slide and using it to leave the plane.

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By now everyone knows that Hewlett-Packard (HP) CEO Mark Hurd has resigned from his post after an internal company investigation revealed that he mislead the company about expenses he submitted for contract work that was never performed.  It gets more scandalous though.  The expenses were paid to a marketing consultant that recently settled a sexual harassment claim against Hurd.

So in the aftermath, will this series of events limit his future employment prospects?  What would an employment background check reveal?  Would HP reveal Mr. Hurd’s reason for departure if ever contacted for an employment verification?  I’m thinking they wouldn’t get into the details. After all, there was no criminal conviction for the misreporting of expenses and HP’s investigation of sexual harassment concluded that the allegations were unfounded.  Now, of course most prospective employers will know about Mr. Hurd’s exploits because the media has reported on them ad nauseum.  However, I question whether that will dim his ability to find a similar position elsewhere.

However, let’s say that Mr. Hurd was not the head of a major public organization.  Would an employer reveal such information on a rank and file employee? What do you think?

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The Stolen Valor Act of 2005, signed into law on December 20, 2006 by President George W. Bush, makes it illegal to falsely claim to be a recipient of military awards and medals handed out by Congress to military personnel.  A little over three years later, the constitutionality of this Act was challenged. 

Rick Strandlof, a Colorado man accused of posing as a Marine Captain and claimed to have received a Silver Star and Purple Heart during the Iraq War, argued that prosecution under the Stolen Valor Act violated his First Amendment right to free speech.  A district court judge agreed.

This isn’t the last we’ve heard on this issue as I’m sure the government is gearing up for an appeal.  However, it is important to point out that any claims of military honors can be verified by employers by requesting a copy of an applicant’s military records, commonly known as the DD Form 214.

Judge Says Constitution Protects Right to Lie About Purple Heart

By David Kravets,  Wired.com – July 19, 2010

A federal judge has declared unconstitutional a little-known law making it a crime to falsely claim to have been awarded a military medal.

A Colorado man who was never in the military was arrested for falsely claiming to have won the Purple Heart and other medals as a Marine in Iraq. He challenged the Stolen Valor Act of 2005, which provides penalties up to a year in prison, on grounds it breached the First Amendment.

In the first ruling declaring the measure unconstitutional, U.S. District Judge Robert Blackburn agreed with defendant Rick Strandlof’s contention. The judge said the government’s defense of the act was “troubling” as well as “contrary, on multiple fronts, to well-established First Amendment doctrine” (.pdf). The Purple Heart is awarded to military personnel wounded or killed in “any action against an enemy of the United States.”

Dozens of defendants have been charged under the statute. The San Francisco–based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is weighing the statute’s constitutionality in a case brought by a man sentenced to 400 hours of community service and fined $5,000.

The government, which is mulling an appeal, argued that the law should be upheld.

“By allowing anyone to claim to possess such decorations, could impact the motivation of soldiers to engage in valorous, and extremely dangerous, behavior on the battlefield,” the government wrote.

Judge Blackburn was not buying it.

“This wholly unsubstantiated assertion is, frankly, shocking, and indeed, unintentionally insulting to the profound sacrifices of military personnel the Stolen Valor Act purports to honor,” the judge ruled. “To suggest that the battlefield heroism of our servicemen and women is motivated in any way, let alone in a compelling way, by considerations of whether a medal may be awarded simply defies my comprehension.”

Strandlof told CNN last year that he lied about his record because, among other things, of a “severely underdiagnosed mental illness.”

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Steven D. Levitt, coauthor of one of my favorite books, Freakonomics suggests that more than 50 percent of people lie on their resumes.  We obviously agree since our statistics show year after year that over 55% of applicants lie about their job and educational history.  Levitt refers to a famous W. C. Fields quote “Anything worth winning is worth cheating for.” Resume lies continue at an even higher rate in this economy, candidates have more reason to lie now, they need to work!  Falsifying your resume will get you nowhere.  Its rare to find a company these days that don’t conduct background checks on their applicants.  If you lie, you will get caught.  Employers will check your references, past employment and education, in addition to a thorough criminal background check.  What do we advise? Tell the truth!

Monster.com just published a great article, “Lying on Your Resume: What Are the Consequences?” In it they surmise:

Companies are growing increasingly savvy in ferreting out resume cheaters through more comprehensive background checks conducted both pre  and posthire. Why the latter? Subpar job performance can prompt a follow-up investigation into an employee’s past. If dishonesty is discovered, it is often grounds for termination and possibly legal action.

Click here for the rest of the article!

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I typically don’t comment on content I read in online forums, but I saw this post on WallStreetOasis.com about a recent college grad who has accepted a position with Goldman Sachs, but must first submit to an employment background check before it’s official.  Unfortunately, he/she now realized that they inadvertently lied on their resume and is trying to decide whether to come clean prior to the background check. See below.

I’m so worried about it and haven’t been able to sleep well…

Here’s my advice.  Whether Goldman Sachs actually checks this information or not (and I’m quite certain they do) is immaterial.  This oversight on your resume is simply that until you realize it is false.  My recommendation would be to come clean and let them know the truth.  This is nothing more than a technicality and can be explained by addressing it ahead of time.  If they conduct the background check and find out otherwise, your oversight becomes a lie.  And even if that particular distinction would have no bearing on your employment prospects, the lie speaks volumes.

Just my two cents.

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