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Original poster

Help! Job offer withdrawn - after I’d already resigned!!

247 replies

JuliTooley · 10/02/2021 10:42

Hello,

I’m absolutely devastated right now. I accepted an amazing job offer a little over two weeks ago via email, after a round of interviews and some writing tasks.

I handed in my notice at my current job expecting my final day to be a week today, with a start date the following Monday.

I was a bit concerned as the company suddenly stopped replying to a couple of questions I asked but I assumed there was an innocent explanation.

However, I’ve now been told my offer has been withdrawn with no explanation. Is this legal? I know my references were fine, admittedly one only gives factual references as company policy (big cooperate company) but the others were good personal ones from people I’d consider friends.

I’m kicking myself right now but I don’t have an actual contract, just email exchanges confirming things such as start date and salary.

Also, this isn’t a dodgy company that has withdrawn my offer, one of the people who interviewed me is a well known journalist who has a senior role at the company.

I’m financially screwed, not to mention this is an utterly humiliating situation to explain to friends, family and colleagues.

Any advice?

Ps sorry if this rant makes no sense, I am so upset.

OP posts:
Coffeecreativity · 19/02/2021 09:32

Would it have made much difference if you had signed? Surely they could still have withdrawn and at best paid a months' notice. Sign of impending times I think, but don't beat yourself up about this, ask to withdraw your resignation.

kirinm · 19/02/2021 09:49

I am not an employment lawyer but I feel like this is wrong. Morally it definitely is but if there is a job offer in correspondence then I'm struggling to see how they can retract it without compensating you.

Actually a very very quick google suggests that whether it is legal is determined on the basis of whether it is a conditional or unconditional offer. I'd want to know the basis of the withdrawal.

The offer can be verbal or in writing but doesn't have to be a formal contract. Get in touch with ACAS (or google)!

kirinm · 19/02/2021 09:50

[quote JuliTooley]**@Bluntness100 Thank you for taking the time to ask your daughter. Based on my research it seems an employee doesn’t have many rights until they have worked for a company for 2 years, which is one of the reasons I decided to accept not having a contact in hand. It didn’t seem to offer much protection anyway.

@Eeve @islockdownoveryet @LApprentiSorcier Thanks all, I will give it a go. I don’t think the CEO will be impressed, although I think my line manager will support me.[/quote]
@Bluntness100 is your daughter an employment lawyer because there is quite a bit of info online that doesn't tally with what she has said.

womaninatightspot · 19/02/2021 09:51

That happened to someone I know once he took advice nothing he could do. Oddly same person accepted a job with another company and then didn't start. They wanted to charge him for mobile phone/ laptop they'd bought for him. Obviously didn't pay for it.

SofiaMichelle · 19/02/2021 09:51

The contract/legal position is a bit of a blind alley.

If the point was forced, the new co' could have let OP start the role then simply said it's not working out so here's your 2-weeks' notice pay, or whatever. That's the same whenever you change jobs.

It's an absolutely shit situation for the OP and it does smack of being a stitch-up somewhere...

kirinm · 19/02/2021 09:53

@CarlottaValdez

What big difference does it make? Only your notice pay which in many places is only a week or two until you pass probation.
In my place, it is a month even during the first 6 months. If the OP can't get her job back, it may be worth doing.
Honeyroar · 19/02/2021 09:55

I hope that the op managed to persuade her previous company to let her stay.

kirinm · 19/02/2021 09:55

@Moonstone1234

How awful for you. I worked for a very large FTSE company for many years. They were awful for starting the recruitment process and not getting final sign off from HR. They thought is was going to be a given.

Our HR were hopeless and sat on things for ages and then said NO..

I can see from Blunt - even if you had a contract its doesnt necessarily mean they are committed to you.

Law firms do this too. It is so infuriating. I had a 9-month wait between first and second interview.
IdblowJonSnow · 19/02/2021 09:57

Hi op.
I've been in this situation. I contacted Acas who weren't very encouraging. I then contacted a solicitor and hw had an idea for a loophole. I threatened to take the company to tribunal and they gave me some money that covered a few months of pay.

It's extremely shoddy to treat someone this way and I would insist someone gives you an explanation in writing. Don't engage on the phone.

PM me if you like.

travailtotravel · 19/02/2021 09:58

I had a similar situation. I resigned and then they changed their mind. Because I had resigned, and they knew I had from our email exchanges, I essentially wrote to them in the strongest possible terms that were polite and asked what they were going to do about the fact I wouldn't be able to pay my mortgage. They paid me 3 months' salary. I got a much better job in the end and the 3 months were a happy cushion from which to make that choice. In these days of social media, I expect that following up with them will be even easier since you will be able to ask them publicly on Twitter about their hiring practices and also leave them a scathing review on GlassDoor.

Smallgoon · 19/02/2021 09:58

Did you receive an official offer letter which sets out some of the terms of the offer i.e. salary, start date, benefits etc? A lot of businesses, mine included, send an official offer letter and then the contract would follow, but usually a week before the new recruit starts. The offer letter itself is binding.

*This is just in response to those asking why you didn't have a contract in hand before resigning. Not all businesses send out a contract straight away and this approach is fine.

DynamoKev · 19/02/2021 10:04

@Smallgoon

Did you receive an official offer letter which sets out some of the terms of the offer i.e. salary, start date, benefits etc? A lot of businesses, mine included, send an official offer letter and then the contract would follow, but usually a week before the new recruit starts. The offer letter itself is binding.

*This is just in response to those asking why you didn't have a contract in hand before resigning. Not all businesses send out a contract straight away and this approach is fine.

But "binding" doesn't mean that much - in money terms 1 month's paid notice at best.

Just to be clear to everyone, especially Tory voters - as a worker you have effectively NO RIGHTS until you have been employed for 2 years.
With a few minor exceptions you can be fired for no reason (they don't even have to give a reason) up to that point - regardless of reviews, probation periods etc.

HeyDemonsItsYaGirl · 19/02/2021 10:06

I hope Juli has been able to withdraw her resignation. I've seen it happen multiple times. Twice, people have come back after actually leaving and realising they hate their new job!

Labobo · 19/02/2021 10:31

Do you have it in writing that your contract would arrive on receipt of info from you on your final day at current job? If so, does that not form some sort of contract? If they are a big company, I would ask at the highest level of HR what has gone wrong as you have now lost secure employment on the understanding that your job offer from them would be honoured.

SirVixofVixHall · 19/02/2021 10:34

I hope you have been able to resolve this OP, what a terrible way to treat people.

elastamum · 19/02/2021 10:34

OP. Go back to your employer and ask for your job back. I have had this happen many times in the business I run and I cannot think of a time when we haven't said yes. I have even had people leave and return 3 weeks later because they didn't like their new job. If you are a good reliable employee it is easier to take you back than hire someone new.

dottiedodah · 19/02/2021 10:37

Maybe Covid or something as PP above says .I have no idea whether this is legal or not ,but pretty damn bad practice surely .Maybe speak to your current employer and say you have had second thoughts?

MacDuffsMuff · 19/02/2021 10:38

[quote JuliTooley]@LApprentiSorcier possibly but it would be very embarrassing. They’ve started the hiring process for my role already.[/quote]
Well a bit of embarrassment is better than having no job and no money. It'll pass.

RB68 · 19/02/2021 10:40

if you were offered in writing (email is fine) and accepted a contract exists on standard terms. I would get in touch with their HR team and pursue this is sounds very unusual

GhoulWithADragonTattoo · 19/02/2021 10:48

What did your old manager say OP? If you can’t get your job back ask for some compensation from the new company.

IloveJKRowling · 19/02/2021 10:56

I've had this happen to me. I turned down a job with a really big company to go for a small one. The job was more flexible to fit around kids even though the outfit seemed a bit shoddy, but they offered me the job, I accepted, they started setting me up with IT then withdrew the offer! I could have pursued it but as PP have said I'd have got a month's salary at most and it didn't seem worth the aggro.

I was going from SAHM back to work so I didn't really have much of a leg to stand on but also the loss of the job didn't damage me too much financially as obviously we had DH's income. It was devastating to my self-esteem at the time (to go from 2 job offers to zero!) but who really wants to work for tossers like that?

You have to carefully consider what to do. In the case of the company who hired me then dropped me I get the sense it was internal politics and people being a bit scared for their own positions that caused it. They had a number of really dodgy red flags anyway in retrospect (they interviewed me in the cafe of another company - which is open to non-employees - but I bet that company wouldn't be too thrilled if they knew that was happening)

Their behaviour, if it gets out, can damage them as much as you so you do have some leverage. Don't accept being brushed off, demand an answer. I hope your current company decides to keep you. It's really not on that businesses can treat people like this with no fallout, it's really wrong. For most it won't be a matter of life or death, but for some it could be the thing that tips them into bankruptcy and ruin.

TakeTheCuntOutOfScunthorpe · 19/02/2021 11:01

According to ACAS once an offer is made and accepted it is binding regardless of whether you have a written contract yet.

You could take them to a small claims court - but you really have to ask yourself whether it would be worth the effort. At best you might get a couple of weeks money out of them.

wewereliars · 19/02/2021 11:02

Solicitor here, not employment law but this is really a contract matter. A contract does not have to be in writing to exist, although it's obviously useful for evidence purposes. You were offered a role, you accepted it. That is a contract. I would write a letter to the company
who offered you the new role setting out your position, ie you relied on the offer and resigned on the strength of it ,and requesting damages because it was withdrawn and you have lost out as a result of their breach of contract. 3 months loss of earnings would seem reasonable. They have behaved poorly and will not want the possible poor publicity. I would not take it to court though, you wont get much, it will probably be a small claim so you wont get your costs, and unfair as it is it maybe seen as a poor reflection on you by potential future employers. If you had waited for a written contract your position would not really be different. You can use the original advert and subsequent e mails as evidence. Good luck OP

Poolbridge · 19/02/2021 11:03

I have been in this exact same situation. Really dreadful.
The explanation I was given at the time by the Director was the manager who interviewed and offered me the role hadn’t formally obtained internal approval re financing it, and so they withdrew my offer of employment. In fact I had signed a contract but my rights within same we’re virtually useless re any financial protection. I was much more junior back then.

With embarrassment, I went back to my former employer and asked if I could retract my resignation. Fortunately, they took me back. And an important life lesson was learnt re protections in contract.

It is disgusting behaviour by a business / employer, and morally reprehensible. Who does this?

But I also learnt an employment life lesson. I am really sorry this has happened to you 💐

Frazzled2207 · 19/02/2021 11:15

Please keep us updated OP this is truly rubbish.
There is a good chance your current company will choose to keep you, though admittedly it's all very embarrassing (not your fault though and they will see that). But it will cost them enormously less to keep you compared with recruiting and then training up a new person.