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History is littered with stories about people who falsified resumes and background information. Upon learning about the falsified credentials, many employers chose to terminate these employees. Ethics (if not the law itself) would certainly justify the termination. Most people would agree that the breech of trust would be unforgiveable.

But what about family information? An employee is never under any obligation to provide family information to an employer or coworkers. Yet most would agree that if a coworker fabricated stories about his/her family life or presented pictures of a fake family, that would be very creepy.

So in light of the Manti T'eo story, I'm asking a very objective question:

  • If an employer discovered that an employee fabricated stories about his/her family, would that be grounds for termination?
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Are you asking purely "grounds for termination" or the legalities thereof? Because in an at-will situation, I could terminate employment for wearing yellow socks, if I felt like it, whether or not there are "grounds" for it. – jcmeloni Jan 17 at 2:35
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Yes, we need context here. Legally? Ethically? It probably doesn't matter. At least in the US, almost any reason can be used for a termination. – DA. Jan 17 at 6:58

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2 Answers

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In general, I would say no. After all, having a family or not isn't supposed to be a condition of employment. Those super funny what-my-kid-did-on-the-camping-trip stories turned out to be made up? Weird, but not fireable.

On the other hand, getting time off to deal with a sick or dying family member, asking for easier duties or less responsibility without a pay cut, along with a sad story about that sick or dying family member, asking for special treatment that others aren't getting and justifying it with some family-member story? That would totally be a don't-let-the-door-hit-you-in-the-backside moment.

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I agree. If it doesn't hurt the employer directly they're not likely to fire you (they do have unemployment insurance payments to think about). However, if you used it to defraud the company in any way, it's ground for an immediate termination that will not allow you to collect unemployment insurance, and could likely land you in legal trouble. – Randy E Jan 17 at 18:37
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This will depend upon where you are. In most of the U.S., you can fire someone for any non-discriminatory reason (i.e, not based upon sex, age, race, regligion, etc). Basically, "I wanted to" is sufficent. In other places it may be nearly impossible to fire someone for any reason.

Also, contracts (in particular union contracts) can greatly curtail an employer's ability to fire someone.

So, basically check your local laws and contracts.

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