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    Boss discovers remote employee lying about their location: 'Can I fire them immediately for this?'

    This employee works remotely, but they weren't exactly honest with their boss about which country they've been working from! 

    Should a remote-work employee have to disclose where they're actually working from? I can't imagine this is a problem that comes up often, so it makes sense that this confused boss is asking for advice. 

    Why in the world would an employee lie about where they are in the world? In the age of VPNs that can hide your location, it's not impossible, but a smart tech team could still probably figure out an employee's location without breaking a sweat. It's an awfully strange thing to do… If you work remotely, it shouldn't matter so much where you're logging in from each day. But for this boss, it actually matters a great deal. 

    As they shared in their request for help below, the employee seems to be traveling quite a bit, and perhaps they've been lying by omission. They're supposed to be in the UK, but they seem to have moved without telling anyone, and are just letting everyone assume they're traveling all the time. No idea why they'd want to do this charade… Read the boss's account below, and see why the boss is so worried about this. 

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    • 01
      Remote worker using laptop outdoors, balancing laptop on wooden guardrail with mountains in the background.
      via A. C. For Unsplash+

      Remote worker using laptop outdoors, balancing laptop on wooden guardrail with mountains in the background.

      The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

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    • This boss writes that the employee “no longer lives in the UK,” meaning that they at least started there, but they're now spending most of their time in either Turkey or Albania. But the boss also mentions that the employee travels a bit. How does the company handle other employees who travel? Maybe this is a major blind spot in their company's handbook that needs to be addressed so that things like this don't happen again. 

    • 02

      Remote employee has lied about their location and is working in a different country (Mixture of Turkey and Albania.) Can I fire them immediately for this?

      Employee was hired for a remote job at our company. We've got 8 employees and 2 directors, of which I'm one.
      via u/BlackberryAsleep1211
    • 03
      We've gathered concrete evidence that this employee no longer lives in the UK and is working full time in Turkey with frequent check- ins to Albania. They
      via u/BlackberryAsleep1211
    • 04
      travel a bit, but 90% of the time they are in Turkey. Are we able to immediately fire this employee and lock their laptop out of
      via u/BlackberryAsleep1211
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    • 05
      the network? Or do we have to go through some kind of step-by-step process first? We don't want our confidential
      via u/BlackberryAsleep1211
    • 06
      corporate data in Turkey or Albania.
      via u/BlackberryAsleep1211
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    • 07
      EDIT - People are asking over and over why I can't just let my employee work from wherever they want. Couple of big reasons.
      via u/BlackberryAsleep1211
    • 08
      1. Data protection. Customer data is being brought outside the UK. Data has been stolen and used by other countries like China in the past to
      via u/BlackberryAsleep1211
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    • 09
      mass-manufacture cheap knock-offs. Corporate espionage is far more active in some other countries. Albania
      via u/BlackberryAsleep1211
    • 10
      and Turkey are both high risk for this.
      via u/BlackberryAsleep1211
    • 11
      2. Taxes. Employer NI in the UK is 15%. Employer NI's equivalent in Turkey is 20.5%.
      via u/BlackberryAsleep1211
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    • 12
      This employee would cost me an extra £2000+ per year at a minimum + extra accountancy fees.
      via u/BlackberryAsleep1211
    • 13
      They can work wherever they want in the UK! They can go to a remote Yorkshire village, the Northern Irish countryside, or a
      via u/BlackberryAsleep1211
    • 14
      Welsh mountain if they want to! What they can't do is take sensitive client data to a completely different tax jurisdiction.
      via u/BlackberryAsleep1211

      I mean, I don't know enough about "tax jurisdictions" to be of much help here… but I think the bigger issue is just if and how the employee is lying about their location. You can't lie about your college degree or fudge your billable hours without getting penalized by your company. If they're lying at all, the company might have a case to build against them, taxes or otherwise. 

      Let's check out the wise words of wisdom from people who actually do know a thing or 2 about these kinds of issues. 

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    • 15
      Remote worker sits outside on a rock while wearing a large backpack, working outdoors with a huge mountain in front of her.
      via Getty Images For Unsplash+

      Remote worker sits outside on a rock while wearing a large backpack, working outdoors with a huge mountain in front of her. 

      The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

    • 16

      This person says, pick the funniest option and go with that

      GlobalRonin For bonus points, ask them to come into the office for their HR meeting.
      via u/GlobalRonin

      If you want them to prove they're dedicated, make them hop on a flight, I suppose! 

    • 17

      This is an interesting approach, too, though they should definitely involve HR before doing any big moves like this

      Holiday Wallaby Block the laptops access and say that IT finally got around to adding blocking out of country laptops. See what they do. They won't be able to work
      via u/Holiday Wallaby
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    • 18
      chris552393 Your HR question has been answered but you may also have tax implications here too as I have dealt with something similar in the past.
      via u/chris552393
    • 19
      They shouldn't be paying UK tax and should be paying tax to the government in which they're residing (if they're now a resident). Granted you only have responsibility to make sure they're paying the correct UK tax if they're PAYE. However you and the
      via u/chris552393
    • 20
      employee can be heavily fined if you're found to be knowledgeable of this and actively circumventing paying tax in the residing country.
      via u/chris552393
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    • 21

      This might be a prudent approach

      utterlyforked Just say ask them outright if they are domiciled in the UK. When they say they aren't, ask them if they know by your contract they have to be for tax purposes Suspend them with full pay for two weeks whilst they return to the UK.
      via u/utterlyforked
    • 22
      The suspension is to protect your IP and data. In reality they won't return and choose to leave. Problem solved without drama.
      via u/utterlyforked

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