Is using a pseudonym on a job application legal?
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Is using a pseudonym on a job application legal?
Asked on November 20, 2011 under Employment Labor Law, Florida
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 13 years ago | Contributor
It is probably NOT legal:
1) First, by doing this, you are foiling the employer's ability to do a background check, which means you'd be being hired under false pretenses--i.e. you would have committed fraud.
2) As part of the above, you would be foiling their ability to check citizenship/immigration status, which means you'd be violating, and potentially causing the employer to violate, federal law.
3) If you are hired, then the use of a pseudonym might mean that taxes are not properly withheld or filed, violating federal and state tax law.
A person should apply under his or her own name. If he or she gets the job, the employee is free to ask people at work to refer to him or her by a chosen pseudonym (though he or she can't force the employer or coworkers to comply if they dcn't want to do this).
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