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Lying on a CV, is it actually illegal?

8 replies

KentMum2008 · 25/03/2011 16:34

I ask because DH has been unemployed for some time now and has been referred to a company called Maximus via the Jobcentre. They have written a CV for him as his was 'unsatisfactory'. The new version was written by someone whose native tongue is Polish. It's full of grammatical errors and the punctuation is virtually non-existent. On top of all that, they have written that he has been self-employed for 2 years doing garden maintainance and gutter cleaning. Now we've all mildly exaggerated on our CV's, but that is just an outright lie. The nearest DH has been to a gutter is walking underneath the one on our house. And garden maintainence? Don't make me laugh, he doesn't even know which way up the rake goes ffs. If he starts employment with a company and they find out he doesn't know what he's doing and has lied, they can fire him.
I told him to speak to his Jobcentre Advisor and tell them he's not comfortable with lying about his employment history but they said he has to do as Maximus say or he'll face sanctions (ie they stop his JSA) and he can make a complaint, which he did. But they then told the Maximus employees that he'd complained about them and now they're deliberately making his life more difficult. They keep him longer than they should so he misses his bus home and has to wait around for an hour. Is this allowed? I'm in a rage as I type. At least with his old CV he had a few interviews, even if he wasn't successful, but with this one, nobody's going to even look at it. They'll take one look and chuck it straight in the recycling bin!
Any advice on what he should do would be much appreciated. I understand that a Jobseekers Agreement is something that should be strictly adhered to, and breaching it, quite rightly, carries sanctions. But should he be made to break the law in order to stick to it??

OP posts:
ThisIsANiceCage · 25/03/2011 16:36

Sorry I don't have answers, but watching this with interest.

TheCrackFox · 25/03/2011 16:44

No idea.

However, it is worth trying to contact your MP over this.

nocake · 25/03/2011 16:46

Lying on your CV is very bad practice and having spelling and grammatical errors is a quick way for it to end up in the bin so I wouldn't just sit back. Did he go through the job centre complaints procedure? I suggest he write to your MP.

coccyx · 25/03/2011 16:49

not sure where you stand legally but wtf is the jobcentre advisor like going along with this lie
Think you need to go higher
I would be more concerned about poor grammar than the gutter clearing.
Hope he finds something soon

Collaborate · 25/03/2011 16:51

You can get done for fraud for lying about qualifications. Unsure about whether it's the same in your case, but it's always best to tell the truth.

Why can't he insist on his own cv? As long as he sends his out, and it's not an obvious pile of crap intended to get him nowhere (benefits being so great to live on), then I'd be shocked if he got in to trouble for it.

OldLadyKnowsNothing · 25/03/2011 16:53

I second the "contact your MP" suggestion, and if that doesn't help, I'd consider going to the Press.

ThisIsANiceCage · 25/03/2011 17:14

OK, after a bit of poking about...

Seems sharp practices including fraud are a known problem with Welfare to Work private companies (google job outcomes fraud).

These companies are paid if they successfully refer the jobseeker to a position within 6 weeks of the programme, and more if the jobseeker remains in the position for 13 weeks. See p9

As far as I can see, it would be perfectly possible for your DH to revert to his previous CV and simply send it out off his own back. He needn't inform Maximus when he accepts a position he has found by himself, and they won't get paid for it. (NB they may tell him he must inform them, but what could they do, stop his JSA? Erm...)

He may still have to physically turn up to the Maximus thing, but can otherwise completely ignore it. That doesn't solve the victimisation prob, I know, but presumably it's time limited.

Agree that MP should definitely be informed.

KentMum2008 · 25/03/2011 19:46

Thanks TIANC I have always had my suspicions about the private companies that the Jobcentre use, he was referred to someone before regarding self-employment and the chap as much as told DH that all he was interested in was getting paid at the end of it. Funny enough, they called DH a few weeks ago and told him to go to a job local to us, initially just for one shift, but with the possibility of full-time employment. DH went for the one shift and the next day they called him and told him they weren't able to employ him at the time. But I've just looked at my calendar and it was 5 weeks and 4 days after his first appt! Coincidence? Probably not.

I thought his first CV was perfectly acceptable, I wrote it myself and I have an A-level grade A in English language, so spelling and grammar isn't an issue :D

Will look into informing MP.

Thanks all!!

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