The son of the owner where I work wants me to write a character letter for him about a person I don't know. The son is not very well-spoken and he speaks and writes like a teenager - he's 43.

He asked me to write a letter stating how he knows this person, that their families have gone on vacations and have had dinners together, and how he feels about her what etc. and sign his name.

The person for whom the letter is about is charged for Workers Comp fraud in California. I'm supposed to email the letter to the on Tuesday the 24th.

I met this person briefly this past Friday at a work party - I got the feeling this person is not an honest person and was anxious for me to send the letter.

If I compose, sign the letter for the son of the owner where I work (son is also employed there) can I be in a lot of trouble?

I don't want to write the letter but the son is a jerk to say the very least and he will treat me very badly - I need my job and have been there 15 years.

Clarification needed. Are you requested to write a letter that the bosses son will sign as his own, or are you being asked to write a character reference letter yourself and sign your name? Submitting false info to defend a guy in a fraud case could land you in legal trouble. I get that you like your job. But if you have to write a letter, maybe say something like "Joe seems like a nice guy, I only met him once, but he seemed OK".

I am writing the letter as if it were from the son about the person in question. The son may or may not be in the office to sign it and and he said for me to sign his name.

He gave me a short explanation in an email what he wanted to say but at that time I didn't know it was for a character reference - I thought I was writing a letter to someone he admired who helped him in business but when I emailed the letter to the person they called and explained it was for their attorney.

I looked up the person on the web and the Federal Charges came up on line from the County web site where the fraud was committed. The owner of the business is very ethical but the son and everyone he knows is an entitled chum bucket.

In this case, you want to keep your job, but not do anything illegal, or deceitful. If he's asking you to put down his feelings in writing, then do so, but tell him you can't forge his name, but maybe his Dad would be willing. Tell him you're uncomfortable so he doesn't expect this favor again.

I had an email from the son to sign his name but still did not feel good about doing it.

I admin for the VP and let him know of the situation - he was not happy that I was asked to write the letter and sign it and told me not to do it. When the son arrived later in the day he came to me and said I narc'd on him, told on him...nothing like listening to a 40+ year old man whine and have a tantrum. VP sat him down and told him it was unethical not to mention illegal what he asked me to do.

If you have to ask the question I believe you already know
The answer. What you have in front of you is a delemma. You’re
Damned if you do and damned if you don’t. I would strongly suggest you obtain legal council from a reputable lawyer. They may be able to suggest a strategy where you can extricate yourself from the situation completely

I contacted an attorney who is a friend of mine and she advised me not to do it.

I see no problem writing the letter per the son's email instructions (make sure you copy off and keep his email), but there would be NO WAY that I would sign it (whether it be your name or the son's name. NO WAY!!). I would prepare the letter and give it to the son UNSIGNED. If it is important enough to him, he'll make time to sign it.

Ball is in his court.

Your description of this situation gives me shivers

I know of a similar situation but it involved a child custody case and the "fraudulent" letter contributed to children being left in custody with a psychotic, abusive & neglectful parent. I don't envy your dilemma but just remember that we can feel "damned if I do or not" but sometimes we learn later that the result we chose we cannot live with

In essence, you're simply a scribe for the "author" of the letter, the owner's son. You are NOT saying anything in your name, you're just doing a favor for the person whose name appears at the bottom of the letter.

If it brings peace and harmony at your job, I'd write it in a heartbeat.

The odds are that the purported author, the owner's son, doesn't really give a hoot about what happens to the person whose character he is supporting.

And Workers' Comp fraud in CA is pretty much like jay walking; when you get caught, it's very inconvenient, but hardly a tragedy. Basically, when someone gets charged with W/C fraud it's because they got video-taped doing something very strenuous that they swore under oath they were not able to do. And half the time the W/C carrier still has to pay because the injured party (and his attorney) prepare a record (back dated by the doctor) regarding a visit AFTER the date of the video, during which the person supposedly told his doctor he did the video-taped activity, thinking he was well enough, but he wasn't and now he's in agony...

I'd write the letter and then ask the boss's son for the background story, just for the giggles. Basically the worst that happens is that he can lose his job (the one with the W/C benefits, and have to pay the W/C carrier back the money they paid. But it really has to be an egregious activity that was filmed.

The letter isn't saying he didn't do it, it's just saying that he's a nice guy, loves his mom and is kind to animals, blah, blah.

Keep the peace...

It is extremely difficult for the comp carriers to "get a D", meaning to get a W/C judge to find for the defense in a W/C hearing.

If I were to write such a letter I would make it very clear in the letter that I was writing it for someone else and that it was their words as told to you. Cover your ass.

I would write the letter (which is a secretarial duty,) but if it needs a person's actual signature, I wouldn't sign it. Just leave it on his desk and if pressed, say that you forgot his instructions. If it's just typing the son's name at the bottom of an email, fine.

FWIW, I don't think employers would give this type of letter much credence. They want references from previous employers, not a character letter from a friend. I think most employers would see through this rather quickly.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/24/2018 05:25AM by summer.

Do NOT sign his name - you could be charged with forgery.

"If I compose, sign the letter for the son of the owner where I work (son is also employed there) can I be in a lot of trouble?

I don't want to write the letter but the son is a jerk to say the very least and he will treat me very badly - I need my job and have been there 15 years.'

What's more important, your dignity or your job? That is a serious questions, not a sarcastic one. I doubt you could get into trouble, if the person doesn't work out based off of "your" reference letter, but you could lose credibility.

What's more impressive?? Some random person at your company writing that person a reference letter...or the OWNER of the business writing that letter...meaning the dad. Why doesn't the dad write that letter?

I find it interesting that the character reference letter is coming from someone who would so blithely ask you to violate the law in the process. I am going to go out on a limb and suggest that the criminal in this case couldn't get a character reference letter from someone of character.

Write the letter. You are being asked to use your special skills: English. Don't of course sign the letter. If the son asks you to sign it again, just tell him straight up that would be a crime and there is absolutely no way that you could do that.

There's nothing wrong with wordsmithing a letter for someone else, based on their ideas, if you have their permission. And strange as it may seem, it's probably legal to sign someone else's name on a document as long as they have instructed you to do so. (If the signature must be notarized, then you can't sign for someone else no matter what they tell you.) These are common administrative tasks that are done in businesses all the time.

However, you need to protect yourself and be able to prove that the document contains the other person's ideas and that they have instructed you to sign it for them. If you decide to do this, make sure that you have a copy of the information that the person gave you, on which they want the letter based. Write the letter only based on that information, and do not add your own ideas or interpretations.

If you have written instructions to sign the other person's name, you're probably OK. You should take copies of the notes and instructions and keep them in a safe place (probably your home) until the entire matter has concluded.

Don't do it, its fraud, a lie... courts of law don't like that.

you will go to jail, not the "friend" who asked you to do it.

Tell your friend your lawyer advised you not to do it.

I was once asked to write a character letter but i refused. I felt i was risking my life if i did. Two of my friends got caught for burglary that i was supposed to be a part of but i bailed on them. One of them was very dangerous and they wanted me to write a character letter against him. I knew he would come after me after his prison sentence if i did that. It pains me that my other friend got caught up in it all and served time as well. I still feel guilt for not writing that character letter to this day. Maybe i could have saved my friend from prison i am not really sure.

Do what you feel is right though in the end. I still feel guilty for the prison time my one friend served. If i could go back now i would have probably written the letter because it is one of the things that eats away at me. I know prison was brutal for my one friend. He was probably the least tough out of us and i abandoned him to save my own butt. I still feel guilty as i type this like i said. But he is doing well now and has a family so he got over things better than i did. I tried to apologize to him and he forgave me but it still kills me inside my decision not to write that character letter. The dangerous friend died a few years ago though.

Not if you do it this way:-

Ask him to dictate the letter to you and you quote it word for word.

You then print three copies and you give two to him and keep one for yourself.

Have him sign both his copies of the letter and tell him to send it to the court.

That way the letter has HIS name on it and it then has nothing to do with you.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/26/2018 03:19AM by matt.