Can offer of employment be rescinded right before starting?
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Can offer of employment be rescinded right before starting?
Drug test was completed, background check was completed, signed all new hire paperwork, left the company expecting my next call to be about my start date and what was said was,
Asked on June 1, 2016 under Employment Labor Law, Florida
Answers:
M.D., Member, California and New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 8 years ago | Contributor
In most cases, such a rescision is legal. However, if you entered into an employment contract, you could force your prospective employer to give you the job or else you could recover compensation (which is more likely what a court would choose). If you did not have an employment contract but you did something significant to your detriment in reliance on the promise of employment, you could still possibly hold this company accountable. However, it would require something like relocating for a job, leaving an existing job for the new one, etc. in order for you to prevail. If this was the case, you should consult firectly with an employment law attorney; they can best advise you further. The legal theory that they could proceed on "promissory estoppel", meaning someone can be stopped from denying a promise; it is also known as "detrimental reliance", since someone relied to thier detriment on such a promise. However, absent any of the above, this company was free to rescind this offer at will with no legal consequence.
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