Buddy says:  It is important to remember that employees have two types of right; contractual and statutory, both of which are relevant.  However, putting the employee’s statutory rights aside for now (see further below), if an employee has deliberately lied on his CV, and this lie has been a major factor in your decision to offer him the job, then technically you are entitled to “rescind” the contract of employment, on the grounds of fraudulent misrepresentation.   The result of this will be to bring the contract to an end.   To rely on this however, you would need to be able to prove that the employee had intentionally given you false information, for example, by obtaining a copy of his degree certificate from his university.  Moreover, if the employee signed a statement on his application form declaring that the information he provided was true, then this will help show that he deliberately gave false information and that you were relying on the truth of the information in offering him a job.

Alternatively, you would have the option of arguing that this lie amounts to gross misconduct for which employment could be terminated either with or without notice.

Employer information:  Whilst the above is the strict contractual position, employees also have a number of statutory rights that cannot be ignored. In particular, as this employee has been employed for over one year, he will have accrued the statutory right not to be unfairly dismissed. 

As such, if you were to simply rescind the contract without following a fair disciplinary and dismissal procedure, then the employee will have the right to claim unfair dismissal.  Accordingly, you would need to comply with the statutory minimum dismissal procedure before terminating employment.  However, in addition to procedural fairness, you would also need to demonstrate that the dismissal was fair in all the circumstances.  Accordingly, you should consider carefully a number of other relevant factors.  For example, previous capability or performance concerns, how long ago the degree was taken, the truth of other information on the CV, whether the employee holds a position of trust etc.  Only after such information has been taken into account, would you be able to dismiss the employee.  You should demonstrate that you considered all these issues in any final dismissal letter, so that your decision making process is as transparent as possible.

In future you should make sure you carry out thorough checks on all potential employees prior to them commencing their employment. This is easy to do in respect of academic qualifications, by making a request to the establishment concerned. You should also always check the references of potential employees.