Retraction of Job Offer - Conditional/Unconditional? (Scotland)

[Student of Socrates]

I was recently made a job offer which was subsequently retracted after I had resigned from my existing employer. The retraction took place 3 working days before I was due to start the new job. I wonder if I have any sort of legal case and would be grateful for any advice. The facts are as follows:

On the 15th May 2013, a job offer was made to me by telephone by the Recruitment Agent acting on the employer’s behalf

I verbally accepted this offer on 20th May 2013 by telephone via the Recruitment Agent
During these conversations, no conditions were attached to the offer

I received an email directly from the employer on 22nd May stating thefollowing:

We are pleased to offer you the role of (Removed)
As previously discussed we are offering (Removed)
We are currently processing all paperwork for employment and will get afull confirmation from Corporate upon return.
I will get in touch as soon as this is returned as well as send outyour offer letter.
Would a start date of the 24th June be suitable?

The information regarding Corporate was not in the offer of 15th May 2013, or in any previous correspondence, written or verbal.

I agreed with my existing employer that my final day would be on 21st June 2013

On two occasions, I asked the new employer to confirm when I wasexpected to receive the relevant documentation as I did not receive an offer letter by post. On both occasions I was assured that everything was in hand and that due to holidays there was a slight delay in issuing the paperwork.

On the 19th June 2013 I received the following correspondence from the employer:

I regret having to email and inform you that we have been unable to gain Corporate approval for your hire. Senior Management were in support and it was with their approval that we initially interviewed and offered you aposition subject to Corporate approval. Unfortunately we have not been able to obtain the required approval to finalise our offer of employment.

On the 25th June 2013, I wrote to the employer who had retracted the offer and asked that they make a payment equal to any notice period I would have been entitled to, based on the fact that they had withdrawn their original offer which had no conditions attached. Do I have any case to pursue this further as I have not yet had any response from the company?

[Inca]

Re: Retraction of Job Offer - Conditional/Unconditional? (Scotland)

http://www.redundancyforum.co.uk/

This link may be able to answer your queries..a lot of Beagles are on holiday at the moment so you might have to wait for an answer here..but to LegalBeagles

[CleverClogs]

Re: Retraction of Job Offer - Conditional/Unconditional? (Scotland)

Which employment blacklist did they use?

[Student of Socrates]

Re: Retraction of Job Offer - Conditional/Unconditional? (Scotland)

Which employment blacklist did they use?

What does this mean?

[charitynjw]

Re: Retraction of Job Offer - Conditional/Unconditional? (Scotland)

Has the post been filled by someone else?

How old were the other candidates, compared to yourself?

Any other areas of possible discrimination?

[Student of Socrates]

Re: Retraction of Job Offer - Conditional/Unconditional? (Scotland)

Has the post been filled by someone else?

How old were the other candidates, compared to yourself?

Any other areas of possible discrimination?

The position was a new position and was not approved by the company's head office. The position no longer exists, hence the retraction of the offer. I do not believe there is any grounds for discrimination here, it is simply a case of withdrawing an offer and I am trying to establish if I have any grounds to pursue this based on the fact they had made me an offer which had no conditions attached.

[teaboy2]

Re: Retraction of Job Offer - Conditional/Unconditional? (Scotland)

Last time i was aware, once a job offer was made either verbally or in writing and was accepted, then a contract of employment is from date of acceptance in place, regardless of when the start date is.

Though the issue about the conditions of Corporate approval is not cut and paste, at least not for them. You see i read the following statement "We are currently processing all paperwork for employment and will get a full confirmation from Corporate upon return." As being all paperwork is being prepared and awaiting being signed off by Corporate (Head office in other words). Which in my interpretation means they Head Office have accepted you application for the role (They shouldn't be offering the job to anyone in the first place with out Head Office approval) - Therefore the awaiting corporate is not in my book a precondition of approval for the role, if it was they should not have offered the job to you and instead should have advised that they would like to offer the job to you but are awaiting confirmation from corporate first, but would xx by ok for you as your starting date, they should also have advised you that this does not mean the job is yours yet.

So in my book, they offered you a contract of employment, you agreed, contract therefore exists, you then resigned from your previous job based on the knowledge you had a new job to start, they then retracted the offer despite the contract of employment already being agreed to and in place. To me there actions amount to breach of contract and have clearly caused you a lot i.e. earnings from previous employer whom you would not have resigned from if you had known they would do this. Therefore you have suffered a financial loss as a result of their actions and are entitled to claim damages from them for said financial lost.

Though your best bet would be to seek out an employment solicitor to handle this matter as it is one of those issues that needs to be handled by a legal professional here. You may also seek guidance for ACAS as well.