Is an email binding?

[thenarnianna]

If, say, your boss offers you a change of hours and you agree and write a formal email confirming your agreement, is this officially binding?

I did the above and have since found out that what I was agreeing to wasn't what I thought and so I asked to stick to my previous hours, but my boss says no, not possible, because I put it in writing that I wanted the new hours and they have advertised for someone to do the other half of my 'new' hours.

My only thought is that I haven't signed a contract or anything actually official.

Anyone know?

Well it is in writing so yes it could be binding.

If you emailed your boss asking for time in an email and they replied agreeing in an email wouldn't you be annoyed if they later said it wasn't binding?

Are you the same poster who accepted 2 days a week and they advertised the remaining 3 days and you’ve since changed your mind? If so, then I think you did agree to the change, in writing and as such you are committed.

Not knowing your annoying colleague was leaving isn't a valid reason to retract (in my opinion).

I was about to ask the exact same.

Is the original offer in writing and did you misunderstand it, or was it verbal?

Yes it is , and I am glad as my ex boss tried to deny they had agreed to a change that I wanted at work but I had it in writing.
Hr said if I didn't have it in writing there is no way they would of made the changes I wanted .

In what way did you find out what you were agreeing to wasn’t what you thought? Was the email from your boss explaining the change of hours ambiguous?

It's in writting whether it's handwritten or am email

But surely the written ‘I accept your offer” depends on the offer. And if the offer was verbal, or unclear, that muddies the issue, no?

Thank you all. Yes I am the poster from the other thread. All a bit of a mess really.

Evidence if it were ever needed that I spend too long on MN. Is your boss refusing to allow you back to the original 2.5 days? What is their position and is HR involved?

Here is the OP's original thread for those trying to follow. I'm unsure why he/she didn't quote it themselves to help people understand?

Regretting change in work hours... | Mumsnet

If they valued you, they'd simply withdraw the job ad and let you continue your old hours. Much cheaper and more convenient for them.

Time to start job hunting.

If there is a material misunderstanding/no meeting of the minds, then the contract isn’t binding.

That is how companies that mis-sell products end up having to compensate their customers when the customer realises they thought they were agreeing to something else.

The fact you haven’t signed anything and the email was simply a record of what you thought was agreed doesn’t make it binding on you or your boss. The email is no more than meeting minutes, where anyone can pipe up and say er that bits wrong, we agreed to such and such not what is in the minutes…

There wasn’t a misunderstanding on their part though. You decided to reduce your days when offered. The applicants have applied on the basis of working three days. All you can ask is that if any indicate they would prefer two or two and a half you would be happy to pick up the difference,

Yes, a contract or other legal agreement can be valid even if verbal, but definitely email or text is valid, as is an emoji like the thumbs up one.! Doesn’t need to be signed in ink, never has been.

Does the email say, "Do you agree to the new hours we discussed earlier?" and you replied "Yes", and there is no written record of what it was you were agreeing to?
Or does it say "Do you agree to 2 days per week starting X date?" and you replied "Yes" but actually you want 3 days but you misread the email?

It was a verbal offer.

So I sent an email saying that I wanted to drop my hours to two days, but that I wanted to chat about certain things (with regard to the hours).
We have the chat, I found out it wasn't what I thought, and now I'm not allowed to go back to my old hours because of this dratted email I sent!

Yep, they are refusing. Boss called HR and they apparently said my email is binding and my original hours are gone. Ive actually contacted the union today to get their take on it.

Exactly, and I'm actually really hurt about it all. That they value me so little.

Well, that's what I thought. I wish I had made my email clearer, that i only wanted to drop my hours if these certain conditions were met. Instead, I simply put that I wanted to chat about them.

No, the offer was verbal. I sent back

"Hi
I would like to drop my hours to two days. But can we please talk about ... and ...."

... nd ... being the conditions I wanted.

Do you have a flexible working policy at work? They’d be a form and a process you and the company would follow, all laid out in detail and confirmed in writing that you’d sign to agree to.

Why did you agree to their offer, if what they were offering was unclear ?
It’s kind of hard to imagine how unclear it could have been, given you were dealing with absolute numbers.
Your agreement was definitely binding.

If the email is drafted in this way, I wouldn’t say it was binding as there are clearly outstanding T&Cs that you wished to discuss.