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Falsifying documents in the workplace sounds ominous, and it is. It could get you immediately fired, so you want to be very clear as to what it is and how to avoid it.
Falsifying documents means putting on paper anything that is not true.
Here are some examples:
Signing something and putting the wrong date on it
You don’t want to back date time sheets, client documents, policies, memos, or pretty much anything. If you’re late, you’re late. But you never want to be dishonest.
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Writing something that is not true
You’ve seen the headlines about child protection workers writing progress notes saying they visited a family when they really didn’t. And it turns out that the child was in danger. This is an extreme example, though it certainly does happen. Even if the stakes are not as high as that, you never want to put into writing anything that is not completely accurate.
Putting in writing something that has not yet happened
I have seen people fill out their time card (electronic, paper, it doesn’t matter) at the beginning of the pay period with the expectation that they will work their regularly scheduled hours. But then they get sick and don’t come to work for a day, but forget to change the timesheet to reflect a sick day. They submit the timesheet showing that they worked every day.
This is an example of falsification of documents. Even though it was probably a mistake rather than an attempt to get paid for a day they didn’t work, they should not have filled out the timesheet ahead of time.
Changing a document in an effort to make it look like the original said something else
This is possibly the strangest example that I’ve seen:
We found on the work copier a pay stub for one of our employees. It had a piece of paper with a different amount taped over the original amount of payment. The date was covered by another small piece of paper with a different date on it.
It appeared that she was trying to make it look like her pay was a different amount. Using a company copier. On work time.
I asked her about it. She admitted that she needed to make something on her pay stub look different for some grant she was trying to get. Then, after she was fired, she changed her story to someone else doing it or some such nonsense.
Before this turns into a stupid criminal joke, just note that this was a very blatant example of falsifying documents and did end in immediate termination for the person who did it.
This is how you know if you are engaging in falsifying of documents in the workplace
If someone brought up the document, you would have some explaining to do.
“I wrote the progress note ahead of time because I thought that is what was going to happen. It always happens that way. I was just getting ahead on the paperwork.”
“Yes, I was on vacation last Wednesday, but I signed the report and used Wednesday’s date because that was when it was due. I didn’t want it to look like I was late with the report.”
“No, I didn’t visit the family that day, but I was supposed to, and they’re always fine, so I just wrote that I visited and they were fine so no one would worry.”
These people were all fired. Had they just admitted to being late with the paperwork, or were honest about not having done an expected visit, they would have been okay. It’s the dishonesty that is always a problem.
Falsifying documents can get you in trouble besides just being fired. Depending on the severity, it could result in criminal prosecution.
Employers can forgive lateness, forgetfulness or occasionally failing to complete a task. Just own up to it and do better next time. Dishonesty, not so much. Read more about Integrity at work here.
