Deliberate falsification of official documents in a workplace situation can occur for many reasons. Employees may alter time cards to change the record of a person’s hours at work, financial documents, inventory records, sales records and so on. This behaviour is not only unethical but in some cases also illegal. They may do this for their own financial or personal advantage for example to obtain more overtime, increase their bonus or embelish their expenses claims. Financial documents may be falsified to inflate the performance of the company. Or documents may be falsified under duress from others within the company, which is a less straightforward situation to resolve. Falsification of official documents costs everyone, whether it be the company itself, its employees or customers. But however unethical this behaviour may seem and however straightforward a reason for dismissal an employer may believe it to represent, it is still nonetheless essential to follow procedures when dismissing someone for falsifying official documents and it is also essential to ensure employees are aware of the potential consequences of such behaviours.
