He was terminated. His letter said “relieved.”

The Vetted Workplace

Real hiring mistakes. Real red flags. Real fixes.

The previous employer wrote a termination letter. The candidate handed over a relieving letter. Same job, same exit, two very different stories, and only one of them was true.

The Case Millow Just Closed

During a background verification handled by Millow, a candidate submitted an employment document as a relieving letter. The verification found that it was not what it claimed to be. The original document was a termination letter, issued by the previous employer over performance-related issues, and it had been altered to look like a routine relieving letter.

Here is how the paperwork compared:

• What the employer issued: a termination letter, for performance-related reasons.
• What the candidate submitted: a relieving letter.
• What it concealed: how the employment actually ended.

We have left out names and identifying details. The point is not the person. The point is that the dates, the title and the company name could all have been perfectly accurate, and the one fact that mattered, how the job ended, still got rewritten.

Why Employment History Is Where Hiring Gets Fooled

This is not a rare trick. A 2023 NASSCOM report found that 48% of Indian employers had come across discrepancies in candidate resumes. And an EY analysis of over 1 million pre-employment screenings, published in 2025, found that 85% of discrepant profiles involved employment history.

Employers do act when they find it. In 2022, Accenture India said it had exited employees it confirmed had used experience letters from fraudulent companies to secure jobs, as reported by People Matters. Paper is the easiest thing to fake, which is why paper alone cannot be the proof.

Our Position: Termination Is Not the Red Flag. The Cover-Up Is.

Here is the part some hiring managers will resist: an employer's blanket rule against hiring anyone who was ever terminated is one of the things that creates forged relieving letters.

• A performance termination is common, documented and recoverable. People get hired into the wrong role, the wrong manager or the wrong season of their career. It tells you something, but not everything.
• A forged document is a different kind of fact. It is a deliberate act, and it tells you how the person behaves when the truth is inconvenient. Those two things should not be treated the same.
• If the only safe answer is "I resigned", some people will manufacture it. Automatic rejection pushes the honest candidate and the dishonest one into the same corner, and only one of them forges a letter.
• Verification has to cover how the job ended, not just that it happened. Dates and designations are the easy part. Exit status is the fact people actually hide.

Reasonable people will argue that a termination should end the conversation. We think it should start one, and that the conversation should be about what was said and what was shown.

The Guardrail That Keeps This Fair

A mismatch is a reason to ask, not a verdict. Relieving letters get delayed. Employers sometimes withhold them over notice-period disputes or pending dues. According to HR platform Taggd, a relieving letter is not mandatory under Indian labour law, though it is standard practice, so a missing letter is not proof of anything.

Give the candidate a chance to explain before you conclude. And apply the same standard to everyone, so that what you do with a termination does not depend on who the candidate is. The case above was clear because the document itself had been altered, not because of a hunch.

The Fix: Verify the Exit, Not Just the Job

• Confirm the exit status at the source. Contact the previous employer through an independent channel, not through a number or email the candidate supplied.
• Compare, don't just collect. Check the document submitted against what the employer confirms: last working day, designation and how the employment ended.
• Ask the question out loud. "Have you ever been terminated or asked to resign?" turns a hidden fact into a deliberate answer, and gives honest candidates a safe place to explain.
• Don't trust how a document looks. A convincing letterhead is not authentication. We showed the same with education stamps, forged offer letters and tampered salary slips.
• Know the stakes. Under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, forgery under Section 336 carries up to 2 years in prison, and up to 7 years plus a fine where it is done to cheat. Using a forged document as genuine, under Section 340, is punished the same way. Take legal advice before acting on a suspected case.

This is the method behind how we approach verification at Millow: thorough employment verification at the source, checks on the authenticity of the documents candidates submit, and automated background verification reports in under 12 hours, so being careful does not mean being slow. For senior hires, the same discipline extends into deeper senior management due diligence.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between a termination letter and a relieving letter?

A termination letter is issued when an employer ends the employment, for reasons such as performance or conduct. A relieving letter is normally issued after an employee resigns and completes their notice period, confirming they have been released from their duties. They describe different ways a job can end, which is why passing one off as the other misrepresents the exit.

Is altering a termination letter a crime in India?

It can be. Under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, making a false document is forgery under Section 336, and fraudulently using a forged document as genuine is punishable under Section 340 in the same way. Penalties depend on the intent and the facts, so legal advice is essential before taking action.

How do employers check why a candidate left their last job?

By contacting the previous employer through an independent channel to confirm dates, designation and exit status, and comparing that with the documents submitted. Many employers confirm only basic details, so it also helps to ask candidates directly about any terminations and to give them a chance to explain.

Is a relieving letter mandatory in India?

HR sources such as Taggd say it is not strictly mandatory under Indian labour law, although it is standard practice and often governed by the employment contract. A missing or delayed relieving letter is not proof of wrongdoing; there can be valid reasons, such as a notice-period dispute.

Do you hire people who have been terminated before? Reply and tell us how your team decides. We'll share the most thoughtful answers.

The case described reflects a verification completed by Millow; identifying details are withheld. Statistics: NASSCOM (2023) and EY (2025). Legal points are general information as of October 2026, not legal advice. Please consult qualified counsel before acting on a suspected case.

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Written by the team at Millow.io — see what a background check catches before you make your next hire.