Lying about your degree: dismissal, transition payment and criminal risk

Lying about your degree in a Dutch job application can cost you the job immediately, the transition payment that would otherwise be due and, in serious cases, lead to a criminal conviction. An employee who obtained a position by misleading the employer about qualifications can be dismissed on the spot (ontslag op staande voet) under Article 7:678 of the Dutch Civil Code (BW). Whether such a dismissal survives a challenge depends above all on how relevant the qualification was to the job and on how quickly the employer acted once it knew.

What counts as lying about your degree?

Claiming a qualification you do not hold is a legal problem; describing your language skills generously usually is not. The employer selected you on that basis and, in regulated roles, must be able to show that the person doing the work is qualified.

Dutch law distinguishes a statement from a document. Writing on your CV that you completed a programme you never finished can end the employment relationship. Producing an altered or invented diploma can do the same, and also brings in the criminal offence of forgery under Article 225 of the Dutch Criminal Code (Sr).

The duty of honesty continues after the contract is signed. Under Article 7:611 BW an employee must behave as a good employee, and an applicant must disclose, unprompted, information that is plainly decisive for suitability. Staying silent about a missing qualification year after year prolongs the misrepresentation on which the appointment rests.

How do Dutch employers verify a diploma?

For Dutch qualifications, the diploma register of the Education Executive Agency (Dienst Uitvoering Onderwijs, DUO) is decisive. A candidate logs in with DigiD and downloads a certified extract, which the employer can check for authenticity; for foreign qualifications employers ask for a credential evaluation or contact the institution, often through a screening agency.

In several sectors verification is a legal duty. In healthcare, the Individual Healthcare Professions Act (Wet BIG) protects professional titles and reserved procedures, and using a protected title without registration is an offence. Comparable requirements apply in education, parts of the financial sector and regulated technical roles.

Screening is subject to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Consent is a weak basis in an employment relationship, so employers rely on necessity for the contract or a legitimate interest and limit the check to what the role requires. Refusing to produce proof of a qualification the job demands remains a legitimate reason to end the application or, once employed, to investigate further.

What happens if the lie surfaces before the work starts?

During the application procedure, the employer simply withdraws the offer. If a contract has been signed but not yet performed, the employer can invoke deceit (bedrog, Article 3:44 BW) or mistake (dwaling, Article 6:228 BW).

Deceit requires a deliberate misrepresentation that induced the employer to contract. Mistake can succeed without intent, provided the employer would not have concluded the contract on the same terms had it known the truth. Annulment works retroactively, but where work has been performed the court can limit that effect, and the employer can claim wasted costs such as agency fees or a relocation allowance as damages.

Can you be dismissed on the spot once you are working?

Yes. Article 7:678(2)(a) BW names as the first example of an urgent cause misleading the employer at the conclusion of the contract by producing false or falsified certificates; the employer can also ask the subdistrict court (kantonrechter) to dissolve the contract instead.

Summary dismissal under Article 7:677 BW requires an urgent cause and immediate action. The list in Article 7:678 BW is not exhaustive, so a false claim about a degree without any document can also be an urgent cause where the qualification mattered for the appointment.

The District Court of Limburg upheld the summary dismissal of an HR manager who had used a forged DUO diploma extract and invented work experience (26 April 2023, ECLI:NL:RBLIM:2023:2753). Her claims for fair compensation came too late and were declared inadmissible. The Arnhem-Leeuwarden Court of Appeal upheld a summary dismissal of a technical support employee whose CV claimed a completed higher professional (HBO) degree he could not prove (20 March 2019, ECLI:NL:GHARL:2019:3196).

The second route is dissolution for culpable conduct of the employee under Article 7:669(3)(e) BW. It is slower but avoids the all-or-nothing risk of a summary dismissal and gives the employer time to investigate. The subdistrict court of Alkmaar dissolved the contract of an employee whose CV listed an HBO degree he never followed and who did not correct it when asked (19 November 2009, ECLI:NL:RBALK:2009:BK7947); the diploma was not a formal requirement, but the misrepresentation still undermined trust.

An employee dismissed for an urgent cause is normally culpably unemployed, so the benefits agency UWV refuses an unemployment benefit (WW-uitkering). Since 1 January 2020 most civil servants fall under ordinary employment law; earlier, the Central Appeals Tribunal upheld the disciplinary dismissal of a civil servant whose contradictory explanations about missing diplomas were one of three grounds (29 June 2017, ECLI:NL:CRVB:2017:2289).

Do you lose the transition payment?

In most cases, yes. Article 7:673(7)(c) BW takes away the transition payment (transitievergoeding) where the termination results from seriously culpable conduct by the employee, and obtaining a job through a false qualification is the textbook example.

Under Article 7:673(8) BW the subdistrict court can still award the payment in whole or in part where withholding it would be unacceptable by standards of reasonableness and fairness. Courts use that power sparingly. Where the employee caused the urgent cause, the employer can also claim compensation for the irregular ending of the contract (gefixeerde schadevergoeding, Article 7:677(2) BW), as happened in the Limburg case.

Can lying about your degree be a criminal offence?

Yes, if a document is involved. Altering or creating a diploma and presenting it as genuine is forgery (valsheid in geschrift) under Article 225 Sr, with a maximum sentence of six years’ imprisonment; knowingly using such a document is punishable in the same way.

A first offender is more likely to face a community service order or a fine than a prison term, but the conviction is recorded and can block a future certificate of conduct (Verklaring Omtrent het Gedrag, VOG). Fraud (oplichting) under Article 326 Sr is narrower: it requires a listed deceptive means, such as a false capacity or a web of lies, that moved the victim to hand over money. Whether to prosecute is a decision of the Public Prosecution Service (Openbaar Ministerie), usually after the employer reports it.

In a civil claim, repayment of the full salary rarely succeeds, because work was performed and had value. Claims for concrete costs caused by the deception, such as recruitment fees, training paid for on the strength of the qualification or the cost of redoing work, stand a better chance under Article 6:162 BW or as damages for breach of contract.

When does a summary dismissal not hold?

A false qualification does not make a summary dismissal automatically valid. The court weighs the seriousness of the conduct, the length of service, how the employee performed and the personal consequences of an immediate dismissal.

Where the diploma was not a requirement for the post and the employee has done the work well for years, a court may find immediate dismissal too far-reaching, while dissolution under Article 7:669(3)(e) BW still succeeds. Immediacy is where employers most often fail: a short, organised investigation is allowed, ideally with the employee suspended on full pay, but an employer that sits on its suspicions for weeks undermines its own case.

An employee who wants to challenge the dismissal must file a request with the subdistrict court within two months after the contract ended (Article 7:686a(4) BW). That is a forfeiture period: a letter does not interrupt it, and late claims are declared inadmissible, as in the Limburg case.

What should you check as an employee?

Being found out by a screening agency is far worse than raising it yourself, because courts treat the concealment as seriously culpable.

• Does your CV, LinkedIn profile or application file state a qualification you do not hold?
• Was that qualification a formal requirement for your post, or regulated under the Wet BIG or a similar statute?
• Can you still obtain it, or have it recognised through an assessment of prior learning (Erkenning Verworven Competenties, EVC)?
• If you are dismissed on the spot: have you diarised the two-month deadline of Article 7:686a(4) BW?
• Did the employer know about the missing diploma for a long time before acting? That weakens the urgent cause.

What should you check as an employer?

Verify before the contract is signed, and act fast and in a documented sequence when something comes to light.

• Do you ask for a DUO extract or a credential evaluation before signing, and record what was produced?
• Have you established the facts with documents before deciding?
• Have you suspended the employee on full pay and heard them before dismissing?
• Do you give notice of the summary dismissal immediately, stating the urgent cause, as Article 7:677(1) BW requires?
• Is dissolution under Article 7:669(3)(e) BW the safer route, for example because the diploma was not a requirement?

What can we do for you with a false diploma?

Our employment lawyers advise both employers who suspect a false qualification and employees whose CV overstates their education.

• We assess whether the facts support a summary dismissal or whether dissolution is the safer route.
• We draft the suspension letter and the dismissal letter stating the urgent cause.
• We file the dissolution request with the subdistrict court, or the employee’s request within the two-month deadline.
• We prepare a considered disclosure to the employer and negotiate a settlement agreement (vaststellingsovereenkomst).
• We calculate and claim the costs the deception caused, or defend against such a claim.

Summary

• Misleading the employer with false certificates is a statutory example of an urgent cause (Article 7:678(2)(a) BW).
• Seriously culpable conduct normally removes the transition payment (Article 7:673(7)(c) BW) and the right to WW benefit.
• Using a forged diploma is forgery under Article 225 Sr, with a maximum of six years’ imprisonment.
• A summary dismissal fails if the employer waits too long or the diploma hardly mattered; dissolution is then the alternative.
• An employee has two months after the contract ends to challenge the dismissal.

Frequently asked questions