Can I be brought to court for breach of contract?

oxygen_old

Hi

I hope someone can help me with this. I am a software developer. I went for an interview recently, was offered the job, signed the contract then handed in my months notice with my current employer. (Employer A)

However in the meantime I went for a different interview(Employer ,and they said they will probably offer me the job and I am meeting them today. They will probly offer me the job and get me to sign a contract, cause HR said the want to meet me. I didnt tell them that I signed a contract, jsut that I have been made an offer.

Question is

can the Employer A bring me to court for breach of contract?
Can Employer A insist I come into work or face legal procedings?
If I am offered a contract with these Employer B today should I sign it?

whiskeyman

My friend was in an exact similar situation.
He just rang them up straight away once he got the second job and wished to cancel the contract / job as he had found somewhere else.
He apologised for the inconvenience caused and everything was fine.

I very much doubt they'll take you to court or "force" you to work for them.
However, they may incur costs from hiring an agency to get you in the first place - these costs may be paid once the contract is signed.
Best you inform Co A straight away that you dont wish to take the position so they can sort it out their side.

I'd hold off on signing anything with Co B yet. You dont have to sign a contract immediately before working with a company.

Everything will work out - dont worry too much about it mate.
By the way, congrats on the multiple job offers!

AARRRGH

Yes, they can take you to court.

Will they? No. I would be extremely shocked if they did.

BTW, what you are doing is not very nice (although I am sure you know this already.)

Good luck in the new job though

Zaph0d

If you read your contract there maybe a trial period for the first few months during which either side can end the contract at extremely short notice. In this case you are covered. At worst you could be prosecuted and pursued for pay corrsponding to the notice period you should have given. I have seen a vindictive employer attempt this but he backed down. I doubt a judge would side with the employer. nobody in their right mind would attempt to force an employee to work for them. It's hard enough to get normal employees to do any work.

Recruitment agencies are normally paid a % of salary eg 15% or a fixed fee which reduces if the employee leaves early. So it is unlikely the employer will be out of pocket. The recruitment agency will likely be annoyed (if there is one).

From an ethical standpoint you are in the wrong. You have made an agreement that you are now going to break.

leeroybrown

Generally the employer will accept the employees request to nullify the contract. After all who will want to have someone starting work for them by force. Just contact them as soon as you have the second offer and offer your apologies. If you're very lucky they might even try offer you improved terms.

I've seen situations where people do stupid things like not bothering to contact the employer leaving them expecting an employee to turn up. The more prompt and polite you are about it the better. No doubt they'll be well used to it.

PatPete

Isn't it funny that ethics are meant to apply to the employee and not the employer- I can give many examples to employers amongst them many of this benighted country's largest companies failing in their duty to apply even basic ethics in their dealings with their own employees.
Good luck in your new job fella!
Don't hesitate to leave this new cround up the Swanee if they give you any cause for complaint! Remember they would happily do the same to you!

Zaph0d

PatPete wrote:

Isn't it funny that ethics are meant to apply to the employee and not the employer- I can give many examples to employers amongst them many of this benighted country's largest companies failing in their duty to apply even basic ethics in their dealings with their own employees.
Good luck in your new job fella!
Don't hesitate to leave this new cround up the Swanee if they give you any cause for complaint! Remember they would happily do the same to you!

How would the OP feel if he had signed a contract with a company who then found a better employee and decided not to hire him after all? The idea of ethics is to treat people in the way you would like to be treated yourself.

oxygen_old

Thanks for the feedback guys.

Well I went for the interview with company B yesterday, and the supervisor seemed alot on the pecular side, could tell I wont really gel with him. So I am going to go with company A. Not to be friviolous but they seem "cooler" and the offices are in town,and the sup was quite plesent.
Also, I dont feel great about breaking a contract,ethics or not,its just not nice to leave ppl in the lurch.

thanks again tho

PatPete

Believe me I can give examples of unethical behaviour of a number of large companies and they are far worse than simply breaking a contract regarding a job offer!

I dont like it one little bit, particularly when the self same companies are held up as some form of 'ideal' operation that we should be proud off.

The common thread is that people are very quick to demand the employee to comply with ethical standards when the same organisations are allowed or even encouraged to behave in the fashion of Victorian Mill Masters.

onedmc

I dont think that the company can hold you to it.

If you sign any contact without legal advice or enough time to give it proper consideration then it's very difficult to hold you to it.

Call them ASAP and let them know.

Regards

DMc

leeroybrown

PatPete wrote:

The common thread is that people are very quick to demand the employee to comply with ethical standards when the same organisations are allowed or even encouraged to behave in the fashion of Victorian Mill Masters.

I disagree, the common thread was that there would be no real issue with the employee breaking contract but that they should be polite and professional when doing so. That's a very different thing to ethics. There are plenty of companies who treat prospective employees badly and plenty of others who treat the very well. It doesn't hurt or cost money to be polite/professional and in the long run it makes for a better hiring process for both sides.

EdgarAllenPoo

They can sue you but it depends on the company, they may not want to waste time and money on it and just want to repost the vacancy.

A similar thing happened to me last year. I signed a general operative contract with IBM but didn't take it up and I never heard from them again, I'm now studying law.