Legal question

[Will1985]

A quick one: if you receive an offer/contractual agreement on official headed paper from an organisation signed by an employee who subsequently leaves before the proposed start of the contract, is the original offer still valid?

I believe that an organisation can revoke it by sending another letter anulling the original (HSBC once did this to all students), but what if no such announcement is made?

 

[ChrisKH]

I'll leave this to the lawyers, but your contract is with the organisation not the individual I would have thought. Might be worthwhile following it up to confirm the offer still stands.

 

[bumsteer]

There are two stages here. Firstly whether the letter constitutes a contractually binding offer on the part of the company or is a mere 'invitation to treat'.

If it is a contractually binding offer and you accept it then there is an enforceable contract between you and the company.

The fact that the employee no longer works there is irrelevant. If the company wants to renege on the offer it would need to show that the employee did not have the requisite authority to bind the company.

Authority can be actual or ostensible. If the employee did not have the actual authority you may still be able to rely on the ostensible authority (ie. the fact that he held himself out as having authority) if you have done something on reliance on what he said and have suffered loss as a result.

Would need to know more background to advise more fully.

 

[swee'pea99]

I'm no lawyer, but it seems to me that the answer to your question is clearly yes: it was made on behalf of the organisation by an employee of the organisation. What they did or did not do subsequently (including leaving) is neither here nor there: they had the authority to act for the organisation; they did; so the organisation did. The organisation cannot back out now.

 

[ChrisKH]

As bumsteer says, there has to be acceptance. So if you haven't accepted formally, they can, I believe, withdraw the offer.

 

[Over The Hill]

You have answered it yourself in the OP

If the contract (a form of binding parties) has not started then they are not bound.

You say the withdrawal was before the contract started. So you were at a stage when the contract was still being negotiated. At that point you cannot bind the company (as they cannot bind you).

 

[Crankarm]

A genuine offer, distinct from an ITT, can be withdrawn up until such time as it is accepted. Once accepted both parties are bound by the terms of the contractual arrangement. As bumsteer (bumsteer?1!? ) has said, as to whether the person you were dealing with within the company has authority is rather irrelevant and if becomes an issue would be a matter of fact. Their authorty as already stated would be either actual or ostensible. I would suggest that if all correspondence has been on headed company paper from the HR department and has most importantly been signed, it may also have been cc'd to the HR manager as well, a contract will have been entered into which will be binding. Contracts can be on an oral basis but as you can imagine these can prove very difficult to enforce when there is a breach due to a dispute.

However I would suspect that you as the potential employee would be able to breach it more easily than the employer although you would still be in breach. If prior to your start you decided you didn't want to work for them or got another job you would be in breach of contract. They could come after you for any losses they have incurred in recruiting and appointing you but it is unlikely, how many employers would, few I think. I guess it all depends on the nature of the position you are going for. They I feel would just appoint the next best candidate on their waiting list. In contrast, if they breached the contract by saying they didn't actually have a job for you then you could seek a remedy via tribunal . For a full and proper appraisal of your position I would suggest you take legal advice from an employment lawyer.

 

[Cubist]

A friend of mne once rang his solicitor. He asked him how much he would charge to answer three questions.
The solicitor replied "Five hundred pounds. "
"Bugger me" said my friend, "That's a lot of money isn't it?" to which the solicitor replied

"Yes it is. What's your third question?"

 

[Will1985]

It's not exactly a contract per se. It goes back to my application for postgrad and was a significant factor in the decision making.
The phrasing is "as an alumnus you are entitled to a 10% fee reduction".

It doesn't sit well because it is nearly £1k which I hadn't initially budgeted for - they made me cough up straight away but my complaint/feedback has only recently been acknowledged 7 months on!! Now 3 of us are trying to find out what we can do.

We just don't believe that a verbal response of "it became invalid the moment the signatory left" is good enough.

 

[Blackandblue]

Hi

That's pretty sh1tty. The verbal response is very poor. I would need to see the chain of correspondence but I reckon there's a good chance you do indeed have a contract; you applied, they accepted, you handed over money. The terms of the contract included a 10% fee reduction. The contract is between you and the faculty/university, not with the individual who wrote the letter.

Press on with your claim/complaint and good luck!

 

[thomas]

As bumsteer says, there has to be acceptance. So if you haven't accepted formally, they can, I believe, withdraw the offer.

I've PMed you...but I've got some lecture notes on this topic which I'm happy to send you. They should answer your question (I think).

I obviously didn't pay enough attention in the lectures to actually be able to answer it