Reference Ace › Guides › Can you lie about your references in NZ?
The temptation when your referee situation is shaky. The honest answer, and what actually happens when people get caught.
Lying about a referee, inventing one, or coaching someone to answer calls as your old manager is deception. NZ employment lawyer Catherine Stewart, speaking to SEEK, notes the fallout runs from losing the offer to being dismissed later, particularly where your agreement has an employee representations clause.
Reference lies rarely explode during hiring. They surface months in, when a new HR team re-verifies, or when something goes wrong and your file gets a closer look.
A brief that makes a real referee sound as good as a fake one, plus the consent rules that keep your current employer out of it until offer stage. Same result, nothing to hide.
It can amount to a criminal deception, and separately it usually breaches the employee representations clause in your employment agreement. Even where nobody prosecutes, the employer can dismiss for it, because the clause makes your application part of your contract.
More than they used to. Verifying referee identity and calling company switchboards is standard practice, and a referee who cannot place you in a team is easy to spot.
Pick referees who can speak to real work, brief them so they are specific and confident, and use the consent rules to keep your current job out of it until offer stage. That is what Reference Ace helps with, and if you have no usable referee at all, our work check vouches for your real work openly.
Reference Ace checks real examples of your work, confirms they're yours, and vouches for them to employers by name, always as an independent reviewer and never as a former boss. Got a referee already? We brief them and run the practice check before a real employer calls.
See how it works and pricing