Failing to disclose information to your employer can sometimes be regarded as dishonesty, allowing your employer to fire you even if discovered many years later. Two recent news stories provide cautionary examples at the highest levels.
In the leading Canadian case on resume fraud, an employer successfully demonstrated that an employee who falsely claimed to hold a doctorate would never have been hired had it not been for this misrepresentation. In that case, the court confirmed that because the employee’s deception was a crucial factor in the hiring decision, his termination many years later was completely justified.
For professionals, senior employees or executives, the obligation to be forthright and completely honest during the vetting process becomes even more important. For these employees, there is a heightened standard of transparency that is expected that even may extend to alerting your potential employer to the possibility of any information, which if publicly exposed, may bring you or the company into disrepute.
In other situations, such as the case with senior employees, executives or those in publicly facing positions , even in the absence of a specific policy, there is generally an obligation to report the existence of any potential conflict of interest. This allows your employer to take steps to mitigate the potential fallout. Failing to disclose relevant information, such as an intimate relationship with a more junior employee can also justify dismissal without severance.