Conditional offers and good faith

[primeta]

Does an employer need to act in good faith after a conditional job offer is accepted?

If for example it suffers a serious business downturn a day after sending out reference requests and so doesn't want to employ the person, can it immediately withdraw its offer by claiming that the referees haven't replied or does it have a duty to wait a reasonable time, say a week, before being able to do so?

[ULA]

If a company makes a conditional offer and one or all of the conditions are not met then the company can legitimately withdraw that job offer. If the company withdraws a job offer before they have established whether the conditions have been met then they should provide you with an explanation of why they are withdrawing that offer.*

[primeta]

Thanks but that's not really answering my question. Does the employer need to act conscientiously or can it do whatever it wants with regard to how it handles your references? I presume that if it wants to do whatever it wants it should obtain the references first and then make an unconditional offer because a conditional offer ties it into obligations of good faith.

[ULA]

Sorry if you did not feel I answered your question which I think is potentially related to your other thread?

If your prospective new employer has made an offer conditional on certain things being met i.e. satisfactory references, DBS check, proof to work in the country etc. and these are not met to their satisfaction then they can withdraw the offer. If the specific issue in this case is the reference obtained from your previous employer then yes they will be relying in good faith on the information made in that reference. If what was stated does not meet their standard of a satisfactory reference then based on that information, unfortunately they can withdraw the offer.

It is not uncommon for offers to be made conditional on criteria such as satisfactory reference being met.

[primeta]

I'm asking about the good faith of the new employer not the referee. Do conditional offers tie the new employer into acting in good faith over the receipt of references or can it proceed towards them however it wishes?

[ULA]

The new employer has to make any decision about whether the reference is satisfactory or not based on actually having sight of a reference from the person/company they have asked to provide a reference.