Can I decline a previously accepted job?

[mauramonday]

Hi,

I applied for 2 jobs, job A got back to me very quickly, interviewed me, and conditionally offered me the job. I had to sign and return an acceptance of conditional
job offer within a week, before they would start the references etc, which I did. It's a temporary position about an hour commute away.

But 2 weeks later job B got back to me, offering an interview. This is a permanent job and closer to home than job A.

If I'm successful at interview, I presume I can decline job A (although I appreciate its poor form) even though I signed a letter to confirm I accepted the conditional job offer? Just to be clear, I've not had a contract through yet.

Thanks

The contract you signed with A should tell you how quickly you can get out the contract, although if you haven't started they probably won't hold you to it.

Thanks Tilly, I've not signed a contract yet, just simply a slip at the bottom of the letter which said
I acknowledge receipt of this letter and accept the employment offered. I confirm acceptance of the erms and conditions stated.

I acknowledge receipt of this letter but I do not wish to accept the above offer of employment.
"terms and conditions" was references, DBS check, Occ Health etc

Just reading further, apparently I should receive an unconditional offer once pre employment checks are complete. So I presume I can decline that offer when it arrives.

You may have to pay for the DBS checks i guess

There's nothing the employer can do if it's before you start working there (and not really afterwards either).

I am not an expert but I think it is the notice period of the role. So likely to be a weeks notice and therefore if you haven't started and won't within that timescale that is fine.in reality people pull out of jobs all the time and don't appear to give it a second thought. I would send a polite email with the news and be down with it.

Yes of course you can. You’re not an employee until your start date. They’ll prob be a bit arsey with you as it’s a total inconvenience but they’ll get over it. Better than training you and then you leave. So many people don’t have the decency to tell you these days and just don’t show on day 1. That’s worse

It happens all the time. We had someone due to start in our team earlier this year but he changed his mind a week before starting. There were three brilliant candidates and our manager had a tough time choosing in the first place so she called one of the other candidates (having already rejected him) and he accepted the job. There was a delay while he worked his notice period but they didn't need to start the recruitment process again.

Of course you can. It'll be an annoyance for the company, that's all. There'll be no comeback on you.

Legally they could claim damages from you for not working the period you were contractually obliged to work, i.e. the period based on you handing in your notice. However, the employer has a duty to mitigate its loss, so if you withdraw now and your start date was far enough away in time for them to find a replacement then they would have no loss to claim. In practice these cases are rarely pursued unless you have a unique skill set, eg are a prima ballerina or have some similarly difficult to replace skills.