When Is It OK To Lie at Work?

Barbara Walters writes in her just released memoir, “Audition,” that former co-worker, Star Jones, asked the women of The View (DIS) to lie about Jones’ gastric bypass surgery. Her coming clean resulted in some mudslinging with Jones.

The controversy began May 6, when Walters told Oprah Winfrey that “The View” cast knew the truth about Jones' lost weight, but stayed mum at Star's request. "She decided to have a gastric bypass operation, but then she decided not to tell anybody," Walters said on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” (DIS). "Then we had to lie on the set every day because she said it was portion control and Pilates. Well, we knew it wasn't portion control and Pilates."

Jones responded in Us Weekly. “It is a sad day when an icon like Barbara Walters, in the sunset of her life…is speaking negatively against me all for the sake of selling a book," Jones said. "It speaks to her true character.”

The Jones-Walter feud showcases a conundrum in office politics: Should you lie for your coworkers? Indeed, Jones put Walters and her other colleagues in a tough position when asking them to lie about her personal life. But there are ways to gracefully handle these situations.

When it comes to tactics in evasion, there is a difference between keeping silent and being deliberately misleading, says Tamar Frankel, author of Truth and Honesty: America’s Business Culture at a Crossroad and a professor at Boston University School of Law. Lying might even put you at risk legally if your deception is regarding company business.