Lying workers could face stiff penalties
The warning follows a Supreme Court ruling an employee who falsified qualifications must repay nearly £100,000 in wages (Picture: Getty)

Lying workers who falsify CVs and past salaries could face being ordered to return huge chunks of their wages after a landmark court ruling.

Britain’s most senior judges have ruled salaries obtained fraudulently are considered proceeds of crime.

The Supreme Court yesterday ordered Jon Andrewes, 68, the former chief executive of a hospice, to give back almost £100,000 after he forged qualifications including PhDs to cover the reality was an unqualified builder.

Five judges overturned a Court of Appeal ruling the charity could not recover any of his salary.

Employment lawyer Matt Gingell, a founding partner of Lombards, today warned the criminal case sets a gloomy precedent for CV and salary liars.

He today told Metro: ‘This ruling could have significant financial consequences for employees who are not honest – employers may start to try and recoup salaries.’

Mr Gingell, who has been practising employment law for 20 years, also stressed bosses already have the right to sack workers exposed as liars or for ‘stretching the truth’ on CVs.

He added: ‘Regardless of the latest case, employers may have grounds to terminate employees’ contracts of employment if they have been found to have been dishonest about their qualifications or salaries.’

Mr Gingell said both things were grounds for ‘summary dismissal’, where workers are sacked without notice, wages or a payoff.

Supreme Court ruling on a lying employee sets a strict precedent
Specialist employment lawyer Matt Gingell told Metro the Supreme Court decision sets a potentially brutal precedent for lying workers (Picture: Getty)

In the Andrewes case, he was jailed for two years at Exeter crown court in 2017 after pleading guilty to fraud over his faked CV.

It led to him being made chairman of two NHS trusts and he ran St Margaret’s Hospice in Taunton.

Andrewes held the job at the hospice from 2004 until his brazen lies were uncovered.

Until then, he had combined annual earnings of more than £100,000 from three roles, all obtained on the back of a CV that claimed he had a PhD from Plymouth University, along with a string of other degrees and range of job-related experience.

He even insisted colleagues call him Dr Jon Andrewes.

His fraud was exposed after health service investigators looked into Andrewes’s history when he said he was retiring early on health grounds.

He pleaded guilty to making financial gain through his role as hospice chief executive.

The Supreme Court ruled a confiscation order for the full amount earned by Andrewes over his 10 years as head of the hospice, £643,602.91, would not be fair.

Judges added a ‘middle’ way was needed to reflect how Andrewes had performed services for which he had been paid, which they said counted towards ‘restoration’.

They added: ‘Andrewes did a good job as chief executive and was regularly appraised as either strong or outstanding.’

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