Rescinded job offer

[Elfieselfie]

Hello, can an employer rescind a job offer or is this breach of contract? Person passed interview, has good references and sufficient experience to do the job. The offer was verbally agreed. This was not conditional on anything else. Few days later, the company decides they would prefer to employ a different person. Written job contracts hadn't been provided/signed at that stage.

Thank you.

[HermioneWeasley]

Well, you have a verbal contract, but proving anything in the absence of a signed contract is going to be tricky. Have you resigned or turned down other offers because of this one?

[ChunkyMonkey4321]

It happened to a colleague of mine. Basically it was just - bad luck. Can't really prove anything. Definitely bad form on the part of the employer

[insancerre]

I expect that is perfectly legal
Seeing as they can sack somebody for no reason within the first 2 years

[Plaintalkin]

This happened to me some years ago. The Chairman of the company seemed clueless about the offer made to me and made one to someone else.

Stupidly, I quit my job on the verbal offer.

I was able though to show some emails where it showed they had made the offer. I took them to tribunal and they settled out of court before that as I had a case.

However..... Tribunal rules have changed so do your homework first but I think a verbal contract is as legal asawritten one. You just need to have more than a he said she said.

Good luck.

[Elfieselfie]

Thanks all. It's not me, it's a family member. He is still employed, by the same company. This was a promotion. He did not apply for other jobs so has not missed out in that respect. Not sure if he has an email trail.

[HermioneWeasley]

If it's a promotion at the same company, there's not much he can do. He could sue for breach of contract, but it's unlikely to go down well and his losses wouldn't be much

[Elfieselfie]

Thank you for the responses and information. He is just annoyed and upset at how he has been treated. He has decided the best solution is to find a new job with a new company asap. I agree!

[80schild]

Pretty sure it isn't legally binding until it is in writing. I used to dork for a law firm which did this all the time.

[CatyB]

Non-written contracts are always so tricky to deal with ... Everyone should be very careful in such situations. I believe there is nothing that can be done, but I do agree it speaks bad for the company that did this and that it should be avoided.

[HuckleberryGin]

A verbal contract is technically legally binding, but obviously quite hard to prove.

[HuckleberryGin]

In fact there is no obligation to provide a written contract of employment, only the particulars of employment within 2 months of starting the job (so hours of work, salary, job title/description).

[INeedANameChange]

A verbal contract is legally binding.

However, the problem you have is that without a notice period written into the contract, it's terminable on statutory notice, which at this point is zero!

A pain in the ass, but not legally actionable.

[Elfieselfie]

Not to worry, he has found a couple of jobs to apply for. Plans to stay professional, obtain new (hopefully better!) job, get his reference and get out of there!

Thanks again for the responses.