Company revoked job offer after I accepted. What are my options?

freebird101

I had an interview with Company A. Company A offered me the job after the negotiation process was over. I accepted and was due to start within the next few days. However, the company has revoked their offer. This is because an internal candidate had been interviewed for the role after I had been offered the position. Due to their policy, they have now offered 'my' position to their internal candidate.

I would like to know whether this is legal and what my options are.

Thanks

Wiley

TELLIT01

Assuming you haven't handed in your notice at your current employer, you need to be breathing a sigh of relief. They could have let you start and then given you notice. With less than 2 years employment with the new employer you would have had no comeback and been well and truly up the creek.

somethingcorporate

Yes, it's legal.

You have no avenue to pursue against the company that made the offer.

antrobus

freebird101 wrote: »

..I would like to know whether this is legal and what my options are....

It's a breach of contract, and you can sue them.

Once a candidate has accepted an unconditional offer of employment then a binding contract exists between employer and candidate, even if the candidate has not yet joined. If you do not proceed with the hire, then you will be in breach of contract and the candidate may be entitled to damages for that breach.
http://www.personneltoday.com/hr/ever-late-withdraw-job-offer/

The questions would be; was the offer unconditional, and perhaps more importantly, was it in writing? Verbal offers are just as binding as written ones, just harder to prove, and employers have been known to have retract verbal offers claiming that it was all a 'misunderstanding'.

sangie595

antrobus wrote: »

It's a breach of contract, and you can sue them.

Once a candidate has accepted an unconditional offer of employment then a binding contract exists between employer and candidate, even if the candidate has not yet joined. If you do not proceed with the hire, then you will be in breach of contract and the candidate may be entitled to damages for that breach.
http://www.personneltoday.com/hr/ever-late-withdraw-job-offer/

The questions would be; was the offer unconditional, and perhaps more importantly, was it in writing? Verbal offers are just as binding as written ones, just harder to prove, and employers have been known to have retract verbal offers claiming that it was all a 'misunderstanding'.

However, since a breach of contract claim is only for notice period and associated losses, the claim would be next to worthless unless there was a very long notice period. And the notice period would start from notification of the withdrawal, so any period not in work would count towards the notice but not be paid.

And, of course, if no contractual term to the contrary has been issued, then notice period in the first month is zero.

Undervalued

antrobus wrote: »

It's a breach of contract, and you can sue them.

Once a candidate has accepted an unconditional offer of employment then a binding contract exists between employer and candidate, even if the candidate has not yet joined. If you do not proceed with the hire, then you will be in breach of contract and the candidate may be entitled to damages for that breach.
http://www.personneltoday.com/hr/ever-late-withdraw-job-offer/

The questions would be; was the offer unconditional, and perhaps more importantly, was it in writing? Verbal offers are just as binding as written ones, just harder to prove, and employers have been known to have retract verbal offers claiming that it was all a 'misunderstanding'.

Yes but as in any civil dispute you can only claim your actual losses which you have a duty to minimise as far as reasonably possible.

In the first two years the employee can be dismissed without any reason just by giving them the greater of contractual or statutory notice.

As stated above statutory notice is zero in the first month so IF a contract had been properly formed and IF a start date had been agreed and IF the length of notice required extends beyond that start date, then the OP could have a claim for any losses in the remaining days.

Assuming they are not out of work and are able to continue with their existing job then their actual losses are only the difference between what the new job would have paid and what they are currently earning.

If that amounts to a worthwhile amount then yes, in theory at least, they could claim for that.

prowla

It once happened to me, and the company gave me a month's salary gratis, which they didn't have to. I was really annoyed because they told me on my last Friday of 3 months notice that I could no longer start on the Monday.

In this case, has a contract been issued and signed? If so, it would be worth checking the initial notice period, but my guess is that the company would successfully argue that the employment has not started.

freebird101

antrobus wrote: »

It's a breach of contract, and you can sue them.

Once a candidate has accepted an unconditional offer of employment then a binding contract exists between employer and candidate, even if the candidate has not yet joined. If you do not proceed with the hire, then you will be in breach of contract and the candidate may be entitled to damages for that breach.


The questions would be; was the offer unconditional, and perhaps more importantly, was it in writing? Verbal offers are just as binding as written ones, just harder to prove, and employers have been known to have retract verbal offers claiming that it was all a 'misunderstanding'.

Thank you for this. Yes, the offer was in writing and I believe it was unconditional. In the email they said they were not looking at other candidates.

This is the offer

Details for the job offer are below:

Client Details: Company A
Job Title: Systems Administrator
Start Date: TBD, you and ____ can work out what’s best for you both
Package: £41,300

IMPORTANT:
I’ve also attached a Registration Form for you to fill out and I'll need a copy of your passport to get everything sorted.

Please can you get these to me by tomorrow morning? I’ll let you know as soon as I hear from _____, and congrats again on the offer!

Kind regards,
Adam

I did everything they asked me to do and they got everything the same day.

sangie595

freebird101 wrote: »

Thank you for this. Yes, the offer was in writing and I believe it was unconditional. In the email they said they were not looking at other candidates.

This is the offer

I did everything they asked me to do and they got everything the same day.

Unfortunately, as you have been told twice, the advice that you obviously prefer is actually not worth a lot!

But I am afraid that is not the only example of selective reading here. It was not an unconditional contract - it was an offer. As offer that, unless you have something else that outlines your agreed contract, is not binding. It was conditional upon agreement of start dates, and the return of documentation. Unless they subsequently said that they had agreed all of these, then you had no contract.

jackomdj

Did you receive a contract?

Many years ago I had something similar, I had received a contract and handed in my notice. As the contract stated a months notice, this is what they had to do and gave me a months payment.

Fortunately my then current employers were happy to keep me on a rolling contract, I was moving out of the area so they knew I would be off at some point, they used me to do some ad hoc work which we did not have spare capacity to do. It also meant my handover lasted a lot longer.