How to respond to a job offer

BPL

My son received a graduate job offer in an email after a short video interview. He was asked to accept by 1730 two days time. He replied accepting the job subject to contract and asked a couple of questions as they had promoted him to do. After chatting for a week for the written contract he was sent an email saying the offer had been withdrawn as conditional acceptance and the work he was going to be doing was no longer there. I had gone to the trouble of getting him advice from a ex senior HR professional who helped draft his very polite response. He is naturally gutted and so am i. A friend working in the industry says anyone asking questions at interview or acceptance is often deemed to be trouble and would be rejected. 
Q. Is this now normal practice (smaller architect employer)
Q. Is it legal. Our fair employment legislation is very strong in northern Ireland so i was surprised at their response.
Any help appreciated i thought society had moved on. This seems a buyer's market attitude of abusing desperate graduates.
Tia

BPL

Edit for typo. Chased for a week. They had promised to send written contract for him to sign.

TBagpuss

I don't think it is normal practice to withdraw an offer because someone asks questions, although there are some employers who might see it as an implication that the prospective employee was awkward, in most cases (and assuming that the questions themselves were reasonable) it wouldn't be, although it is perhaps a little unusual to ask questions then, rather than during the interview, unless they are questions about the contract / start dates etc  

I am not familiar with the law in NI but at most I think it would be legal -he accepted conditionally, the condition wasn't met, so no contract was formed, so they haven't breached a contract with him, and even if the offer had been withdrawn after he had accepted unconditionally, I don't think he would have been entitled to anything - a quick google suggests that the statutory notice period (which might mean he was entitled to pay in lieu of notice) only applies once you have been employed for a month, and would only entitle him to a week's pay in lieu

moneysavinghero

Perfectly legal. No contract has been signed so he was never actually employed. Unless they found out he was black / gay / disabled or some other other protected characteristic and that was why they withdraw the offer there is not really anything you can do. Maybe they lost a major client and the work really was not there any more.

What were the questions he asked and the 'conditional acceptance' that you think may have made them think again? 

BPL

He said he was excited to be offered job. He would like to accept subject to the written contract. He asked to start towards end of June they as they said June to be discussed. (Needed to travel to England to see family not seen for a year with COVID) Would they support him for a master's degree at some time in future if beneficial to them. Bland sickness and absence policy question. Seems a lot of these smaller employers don't even bother with contracts. 

elsien

Has he considered that they might be telling the truth and that the work they had hoped would be there hasn't materialised? I'd be surprised if asking questions got him rejected, although I've not worked for a small architect company, but in other sectors asking questions is fine - it shows you're interested. 
The one time I was turned down for a job for querying something in the proposed contract, I wasn't really surprised and would not have wanted to work under the conditions they were offering anyway. 

BPL

Ps they talked 80% in interview and no oppression for questions. I get the impression they expect grads to be beghing for jobs regardless of conditions. Fair employment in NI is to protect against perceived religious affiliation discrimination and carries unlimited fines. I don't think this was an issue here. The employer even went to the same school.

TELLIT01

Situations within a company can and do change, particularly in the current uncertain climate.  There is nothing he can do about it other than chalk it up to experience.  If it's a company he would really like to work for he could write to them saying how disappointed he is that the role is no longer available and asking if his details can be held on file in case the situation changes again.

wilfred30

As has been mentioned, the employer may well be telling the truth that the work is no longer there for some reason.
However, if he is in the same situation again, I would suggest not asking about the sickness/absence policy before they've even sent him a contract, which probably would've had the information in any way.  IMO, it doesn't look good.  The employer might've got the impression that he was intending to go off sick shortly after starting or something!

BPL

Yes that was HR advice was qualified with its probably in the contract

BPL

Also asked about Pension. I'm obviously out of date as was HR advice. In my day these sort of questions were fairly standard.