Can Lying on a CV Get you fired? Tudor v Accurate Screen Ltd, 2026 ABKB 237

Dan Wilband, BCL/JD, MA

He listed an MBA he didn’t really have. The court considered it just cause for dismissal.

A recent Alberta case is significant for anyone hiring or being hired at the executive level.

The employee applied for a VP Business Development role. His resume listed an MBA that was “currently ongoing” at a well-known university, with expected completion in November 2023. He made it through two rounds of interviews, got the offer, and started work.

What the employer didn’t know is that, at the time of application, the employee hadn’t enrolled in the program. He hadn’t taken a course. He’d only created an online account at the university, and that was two days after his first interview.

When his work on a forecasting project revealed gaps in statistical and quantitative analysis, the employer started asking some questions. The employee was evasive. Months passed, and the truth eventually came out.

The court wasn’t just focused on the single misrepresentation at hiring. It was the continuation of it, the evasiveness when questioned, the failure to come clean when performance issues surfaced. Dishonesty that persists further erodes the very foundation of the employment relationship.

The court acknowledged that employer never verified the credentials during interviews. But the court had no sympathy for the argument that this shifted any responsibility. An employer hiring for an executive position is entitled to take a candidate’s representations at face value. Demanding proof, the court found, would be demeaning.

There are some obvious lessons here worth remembering.

Just cause is a high bar to meet. But intentional misrepresentation about one’s education, compounded by ongoing evasion after the fact, can clear it.

Tudor v Accurate Screen Ltd, 2026 ABKB 237