accepting a job offer and then backing out of it

[nilar]

Hi All,

I got an offer from a company and I have signed the employment contract. My DOJ is August 15th 2017. However, my current employer negotiated with me and gave me the hike which I have been asking for a year. So i decided to stay with my current employer.

In this case, the company offerred me a job which is commencing on August 15th, does they have any rights to take legal action on me?

Please advise.

Thanks in advance.

[er2]

Not for the fact that you're resigning from the offer alone. If they incurred specific costs for getting you on board (say, they bought a plane ticket to fly you over), they might be depending on the exact wording in the contract.

[shafiq]

Hi All,

I got an offer from a company and I have signed the employment contract. My DOJ is August 15th 2017. However, my current employer negotiated with me and gave me the hike which I have been asking for a year. So i decided to stay with my current employer.

In this case, the company offerred me a job which is commencing on August 15th, does they have any rights to take legal action on me?

Please advise.

Thanks in advance.

Try to tell them politely that due to change in circumstances you can't join. If they hint anything like trouble, can you just resign immediately as it doesn't require a notice period in first month of employment.

[jgl]

What er2 said. You're probably in the clear if this was a local hire, people back out of employment contracts before starting all the time.

Try to tell them politely that due to change in circumstances you can't join. If they hint anything like trouble, can you just resign immediately as it doesn't require a notice period in first month of employment.

This makes no sense, for the OP to 'resign' from this new job, he needs to sign on, which means leaving his current job which he has indicated he will stick with.

[Plus]

The company has no legal recourse unless they spent money on things like relocation or visa. However, taking a counteroffer is typically a bad idea. Why should it take you leaving for your current company to pay you what you are worth? I hope it with out for you but more often than not those who take a counteroffer leave within a year for a different job anyway.

[answerer]

Reminder: If you signed a contract, you are contractually bound by the terms of the contract (unless they violate laws). So you are liable for notice period or pay in lieu of notice.

That said, unless they have incurred significant costs, somewhat unlikely that they will take legal action. However, you may be burning your bridges.

[er2]

Original Post Deleted

And your employer has demonstrated that he is only willing to pay you adequately when forced to... loyalty is not a one way street

That being said, I fully agree that accepting counter offers is mostly a bad idea.

[Scousebanana]

If you signed a contract with your new employer you need to read it very carefully to see if there is any liability. Even if there is, if their outlay was low, I doubt that they will be bothered to follow up. Don't expect to get offered a job from them again any time soon though....

[MandM!]

Depends on your contract. If you have a probationary period then you can resign without notice in the first month. Not sure how this applies when resigning before you start. Can anyone chime in?

[shri]

Jrkob, probation is not mandatory as far as I know. We have hired people in the past and waived probation from both sides. Will check the laws to or row..