Being pressured to resign from job that never existed

faringdon

Hi,

In june 2025 (its now Nov 2025) I applied for a job with a UK defence contractor  (call it "zzz"), via a recruitment company , lets call it "bigrecruit". The recruiters name was lets call him "john smith".

The job first collapsed, then didnt start, then i was given a new start date....then it collapsed again....then i was told to start the job by "doing nothing" at home for weeks, and the recruiter says they would pay me a full months wage for doing nothing!

So i told them to forget it, because i didnt believe the job existed and doubted that they would ever pay me to do nothing.

However, they say i signed a contract and so must write them a formal resignation letter....what are my rights?...why do they want the letter?

___________________________________________________

I first applied for the Electronics engineer job in June 2025.
Then I got a start date of Sept 1st 2025.
Then Sept 1st 2025 came and went, but I got no joining instructions or anything, no contact whatsoever. So  Obviously I couldn’t start the job.

Then  some time in September, John Smith (of BigRecruit) phoned me again and said the job was back on , and gave me a new start date of Nov 3rd 2025.

Then On Wednesday 29th Oct i emailed John Smith to ask for a start time and who/where to report to at ZZZ on Nov 3rd 2025..
Then on 30th Oct 2025, John Smith phoned me to say that the job had not been given the go-ahead by ZZZ,  and that it had not yet
even been put forward to request go-ahead. -But even with that  situation, John asked me to kind of pretend to start the job and just sit at home and "do nothing" for a few weeks.
He said i would  eventually be payed full wages  for sitting at home and doing nothing.
However, no right minded person would believe this, let alone believe that this job was ever going to go-ahead.
So i told him to stop considering me for this job, as i didnt believe it existed.

On Thurs 30th oct, John also told me that my id docs had not been accepted, and that i should report in person to a company near London to do the "id formalisation" in person.

However, once again, by this time i did not believe this job existed.

_____________________________________________

Why must i write a letter of resignation for a job that never existed?

El_Torro

It would be useful to see the wording of the contract you signed, without any identifying information in it. 

You believe the job doesn't exist, which may or may not be true. What matters is what you have contractually signed up to. However even if you do break the contract the employer needs to prove that you have cost them money in order to sue you. Based on what you say I'm not sure they can reasonably do this. 

If your start date came and went then it's possible that the employer already broke the contract, not you. That is one of the reasons why the wording of the contract is important. 

Are you working now? Would you have to resign to take this job? Of course you have lost all faith in the process and don't want the job anyway (quite rightly).

tacpot12

You don't have to write/sign a resignation letter, but I would recommend you confirm in writing that your regard the employment contract as rescinded by the employer because they did not accept your ID documents and there was no start date agreed. 

faringdon

Thanks, I am not yet working, but i have several interviews booked in the next few days.

Grumpy_chap

faringdon said:

Hi,

In june 2025 (its now Nov 2025) I applied for a job with a UK defence contractor  (call it "zzz"), via a recruitment company , lets call it "bigrecruit". The recruiters name was lets call him "john smith".

The job first collapsed, then didnt start, then i was given a new start date....then it collapsed again....then i was told to start the job by "doing nothing" at home for weeks, and the recruiter says they would pay me a full months wage for doing nothing!

So i told them to forget it, because i didnt believe the job existed and doubted that they would ever pay me to do nothing.

However, they say i signed a contract and so must write them a formal resignation letter....what are my rights?...why do they want the letter?

___________________________________________________

I first applied for the Electronics engineer job in June 2025.
Then I got a start date of Sept 1st 2025.
Then Sept 1st 2025 came and went, but I got no joining instructions or anything, no contact whatsoever. So  Obviously I couldn’t start the job.

Then  some time in September, John Smith (of BigRecruit) phoned me again and said the job was back on , and gave me a new start date of Nov 3rd 2025.

Then On Wednesday 29th Oct i emailed John Smith to ask for a start time and who/where to report to at ZZZ on Nov 3rd 2025..
Then on 30th Oct 2025, John Smith phoned me to say that the job had not been given the go-ahead by ZZZ,  and that it had not yet
even been put forward to request go-ahead. -But even with that  situation, John asked me to kind of pretend to start the job and just sit at home and "do nothing" for a few weeks.
He said i would  eventually be payed full wages  for sitting at home and doing nothing.
However, no right minded person would believe this, let alone believe that this job was ever going to go-ahead.
So i told him to stop considering me for this job, as i didnt believe it existed.

On Thurs 30th oct, John also told me that my id docs had not been accepted, and that i should report in person to a company near London to do the "id formalisation" in person.

However, once again, by this time i did not believe this job existed.

_____________________________________________

Why must i write a letter of resignation for a job that never existed?

Why don't you simply e-mail "John Smith" to confirm that, as per the information provided on 30th October, you have duly commenced working today (3rd November) and expect that your contract of employment will be honoured in full.  Confirm that you remain available and ready to perform the duties of the work and await further information about access to the work place, IT systems, etc.

There is an element in employment where the employee has to be available for work but also the employer has to provide work.

It is, of course, not common to get paid for any time to do nothing but, if you are only being asked to be available for remote work, why wouldn't you agree?  It is not as though they can actually verify where you are or what you are doing so it would seem as though you can do as you please.
You accept the reality that you probably won't get paid, but if you did nothing, you lost nothing.

Is this the job you were applying for Security Clearance in July?
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6619030/security-clearance-for-electronics-engineer-job-in-uk#latest

Or connected with the recruitment agency who had you stuck with them in May?
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6609635/engineering-recruitment-consultancies-that-have-engineers-stuck-in-contract-for-years/p1

Or the company you did not start working for in August?
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6622803/signed-contract-of-employment-but-then-didnt-start-work/p1

Or the company that you would not tell them your address?
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6624255/not-informing-an-employer-of-change-of-address/p1

Or the company that did not pay you in October?
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6635571/have-not-been-payed-for-an-electronics-engineering-contract/p1

elsien

I was also thinking you have to be one of the unluckiest people on here when it comes to employment issues. 

marcia_

 I would sit at home doing nothing but getting paid. 

Grumpy_chap

I just want to add on the part around joining without any work to do.

I work in sectors where security clearance is required and it is not wholly unheard of in so far as the employer has a vacancy to fill, finds the correct person and does not wish to lose that individual by making them wait. 
What sometimes happens is the employer will make a job offer with a start date of the beginning of the following month.  The employer will commence the security vetting process to run in parallel with the pre-employment period but knows that the vetting can take longer than the pre-start period.

When the individual starts employment, there is no fee earning work to place that individual into so the employee will be kept busy doing nothing.  This is not often as extreme as the OP has - sit at home and await the pay check - but the employer will often get the new employee into the office, undertake internal onboarding, IT start up, internal specific training, etc.  If that process exhausts, there is usually some task that has been on a back-burner that they will ask the individual to do until such time as the security vetting is processed and the employee can move across to fee-earning functions.

So, not "do nothing at home" but often a fairly relaxed "fill in task" ramp up at the new employer.

faringdon

The thing is, they may have various form-filling activities which need doing there and then, and as such i wouldnt be able to attend interviews for other jobs. As discussed, i simply cant believe the "job" they are offering me really exists...given the top post details. As such, i need to attend interviews for "real" jobs.

Grumpy_chap

faringdon said:

The thing is, they may have various form-filling activities which need doing there and then, and as such i wouldnt be able to attend interviews for other jobs. As discussed, i simply cant believe the "job" they are offering me really exists...given the top post details. As such, i need to attend interviews for "real" jobs.

You seem to be looking for obstacles where none really exist.

If the company have not provided you with any IT, then how do they expect you to do form-filling activities right there and then?  Either these are online signature processes which you could do from a mobile, tablet, or laptop anywhere, in which case you could simply carry a device with you as you go out and about.  Or, these are forms that need printing, filling in with a pen and then scanning back in, in which case you could say you will do the form but need to go to the local library for print / scan facility which will be sufficient to buy you the time to not do immediately.

All plausible and practically doable.

The whole "sit at home and wait for work" does not mean that you need to sit in-front of an empty space where the company laptop would be if they sent one.
Even if it were to be taken that literally, you would be entitled to a lunch hour and any call that landed for "immediate" action could be simply explained that you are on your lunch break so popped away but will get right back to it.
It would just be unfortunate if you were in an interview when they tried to call, but you would then have your phone switched off and could blame a flat battery / on charge.