Article 8 of the Labor Contract Law stipulates that "When employing a worker, an employer shall truthfully inform the worker of the work content, working conditions, workplace, occupational hazards, safety production status, labor remuneration, and other information that the worker requires to know. The employer has the right to know the basic information directly related to the labor contract of the worker, and the worker shall truthfully explain." This article sets forth the following provisions for the employer and the worker: The "truthful" obligation means that employers have the obligation to "truthfully inform" when recruiting, and workers have the obligation to "truthfully explain".

In recent years, the employment market situation has become increasingly severe, with frequent competition among multiple people for the same job positions. Academic qualifications and special certificates often become an important indicator for enterprises to recruit talents. Faced with the brutal competition mechanism, some interviewees choose to fake academic credentials to muddle through in practice. Among the ten typical cases of labor disputes released by the Guangzhou court recently, there was a case where senior executives of a company forged their academic credentials, and the court ultimately ruled that the unit could terminate the labor contract on this ground without paying economic compensation. The case file shows that Shao signed a labor contract with a real estate company and submitted the "Beijing University of Commerce and Business Graduation Certificate" and the corresponding academic certification report, which were forged. On May 30, 2016, Shao Mou signed a labor contract with a tourism company for the period from May 30, 2016 to August 5, 2021, and joined the company's management position. On December 8, 2018, a tourism company terminated its labor relationship for violating discipline. Shao sued the company for paying compensation for illegally terminating the labor contract. The court of first instance ruled to reject all of Shao's litigation claims, and Shao filed an appeal against them. The second instance decision of the Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court rejected the appeal and upheld the original judgment.

When setting the obligation of "truthfulness" in the labor law, it is to fully protect the legitimate rights and interests of workers, while also taking into account the right to maintain the legitimate employment management of employers. In the case, Shao Mou knowingly provided the company with a fake academic certificate that violated the basic standards that workers should comply with. The court determined that his behavior violated the company's rules and regulations, and also violated labor records. The company's termination of the labor contract was not improper, and there was no need to bear economic compensation.

Coincidentally, in 2021, a judgment issued by the Pinggu District Court of Beijing also showed that the employee Zhang obtained the position of general manager of a company's creative center by providing false academic qualifications and fictitious work experience, which violated the employer's right to know. The court ultimately ruled that he would return 300000 yuan of the employer's salary.

The author believes that the forgery of relevant academic certificates by workers not only violates the obligation to truthfully explain the labor law, but also violates the most basic principle of honesty and credibility, and infringes the legitimate right of employers to know. However, the root cause of the above two cases is not only the dishonesty and deliberate concealment of workers, but also the non-standard employment of many enterprises. Senior management is an important position in the company, and those who falsify their academic credentials can pass the various levels of recruitment and enter the company, indicating that there are significant loopholes in the review process of the company. Some enterprise HR personnel operate irregularly in the recruitment process, do not conduct basic background checks, and do not review the original documents of relevant certificates, providing opportunities for workers to falsify their academic credentials. The risk costs that enterprises may pay for recruiting wrong employees, especially top management personnel, including but not limited to increased labor costs, litigation and arbitration risks, and corporate image costs are far higher than employee salaries. In practice, the human resources department cannot expect every job seeker to strictly fulfill their "truthful" obligations in accordance with the provisions of the law, but should strictly comply with the company's recruitment system, perform their due review obligations when reviewing relevant information about workers, try to avoid disputes arising after signing a contract, avoid relevant litigation risks, and reduce unnecessary labor costs.

(This article is translated by software translator for reference only.)