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"WHICH EMPLOYEE IS LYING? EMPLOYER TURNS DETECTIVE!"

Dear Kathryn:

I am feeling squeezed between the ramifications of what could be true gossip and the great job that a new employee is doing.

I hired what I thought to be a very good employee whose references checked out. In the two weeks she's been here, she's done an excellent job.

Another reliable employee who's been with me for five years told me a few days ago that my new hire is not who she represented herself to be. She said she went to school with her and knows her reputation well. This established employee told me that she knows for a fact that the new employee had been fired from other practices that she didn't list on her resume. The reasons for her termination supposedly were due to her stealing prescriptions and doing drugs. My employee is generally reliable but she does have a bit of a jealous streak, so I didn't act on this news immediately.

I'm walking on eggs, spying on the new employee, waiting for her to do something wacky. I rechecked her references and again, they came back fine. I can't very well call employers to determine if she was fired from jobs she doesn't even list on her resume.

I feel like I'm waiting for a time bomb to explode! I don't want to confront her but I'm very uncomfortable with this information.

SUE T., Simsbury, CT

Dear Sue:

Tricky situation, especially when you get a new employee who, so far, is doing a great job. The thing here is, once you follow the suggestions that come next, you'll find yourself either terminating the new employee or having some serious problems with the longer tenured employee who made up this story.

Attorney Brian Clemow agrees with me that you need to address the issue with the new employee. Tell her that you had received information that she had worked at other jobs that are not represented on her resume. If she admits to that, ask why she didn't list them. Whatever her answer might be, I would still suggest calling the ex-employers to determine her employment and whether she was terminated with cause.

I asked Attorney Clemow that if your employee denied working at any other firms, what your option would be. He said call the ex-employers, regardless, to determine if she had been employed and terminated with cause.

When I asked if you could be in hot water if the employee didn't provide you with a reference release to call these folks and Attorney Clemow said, no. Attorney Clemow tells me it's your duty to uncover the truth in this situation. If you find she's on the up and up, your problem becomes the employee who spun this story.

If you discover the new employee told tales, you'll have to take action and terminate her. In this day and age you can't afford to tolerate known potential problems.

Good luck.

Dear Kathryn:

My company has a mandatory shutdown for inventory. This forces me to take my vacations during that time, which is an inconvenience I've lived with.

This year I knew in advance I had a family wedding I must attend which fell outside the dates of the inventory. I told my boss and his answer was, "convince them to change the wedding date." I stayed calm even though I wanted to tell him to change the dates on his inventory, and explained that was impossible and being an employee for four years, I had hoped for some consideration. He told me he knows that this means I couldn't go to the wedding, so I would need to do what I needed to do. What did that mean?

My coworkers suggested I call in sick. I think if I do that, given my boss knows of my desire for the time off, I will be terminated. What are my options?

CATE R., Moodus, CT

Dear Cate:

Request a visit with your boss and go in armed. Have with you a memo requesting the time off and the fact you will be happy to take the time off unpaid. Also indicate that this is a rare request and an important one at that, thus you'd appreciate his accommodating these needed days off.

One thing you don't want to do is call in sick. Your boss surely will know it's a lie and will most likely ask for a doctor's note. Lying is not something you want to have a reputation for so I'd bag that idea.

I asked the legal counsel at Shipman & Goodwin if you took the time off without his permission, could you be terminated? The answer is yes, but your professional and realistic request to take the time off without pay would show well to the Unemployment Board. There is a strong chance that you would get unemployment comp-which, of course, is not the same as keeping your present position.

Dear Kathryn:

My college-attending daughter is signing up for her summer internship; one I think will be a waste of time.

She wants to work as a copywriter in advertising, and applied for internships in advertising agencies. They've told her that her work she'd do for a summer would be "clerical." I don't know how filing and copying for a summer is going to add to her knowledge and make her a more attractive hire to a top advertising agency upon graduation. I think she would be better off interning at a newspaper or other publication doing some writing rather then standing at some fax machine.

I've slaved and saved to get her through college, now have to support her during this non-paying internship that will probably prove to hold no value.

DISTRESSED MOM, Glastonbury, CT

Dear Distressed:

Your angst over this is understandable but we have to analyze what the purpose of the internship is supposed to accomplish.

If your daughter's married to the advertising world, there's no better way to get exposed to the pros and cons then experiencing it every day. Even if she's doing menial tasks, she'll be soaking up the pressures and positives of real life in the fast lane. She'll be able to prove her ability to be responsible, even with the most clerical of assigned tasks and use those advertising big-wigs as future references.

Only by being in that milieu will she be able to position and prove herself to those in hiring roles she'll want to contact once graduating. While doing more responsible work would be terrific, the ad agency on her resume combined with the connections she could make may be a lot more valuable in the long run. How much she soaks up and the networking she does is up to her.