My start date is today and I think my offer is rescinded

I received an offer letter on 12/18 for a start date of 1/5 (today) - the recruiter says he hasn't seen anything from the employer and he thinks the offer may be rescinded. I gave up a week's worth of contract work to take this full time job. The offer letter states that they will contact me in writing, not via text or phone, etc. - so I was awaiting further instructions. This is a remote job as I'm in CA and they are in NY.

Do I have any recourse? I do have further job leads and will start interviewing again, but in the short-term I'm out of work. I have gotten several other jobs with larger companies where the hiring was frozen, but they never jerked me around like this.

I could only find law stating that the employer had the right to rescind prior to the start date, but what about after? Do they have to pay your wages for the day? I'm a salaried professional.

Hmm this is a difficult question since the offer was through a third party. If it was a direct offer to you, I would say yes you may have a case, however since the offer was through a recruiter,and the recruiter offered the position to you,then the company welched and did not hire you through the recruiter. The question becomes who is labile? Once liability is established an attorney will look at damages, what was the damage in terms of money? Then they will look at can a case be made?

After that it comes down to economics-does the recovery of damages warrant the cost of launching an action? This site recommends http://www.nela.org/NELA/ for employment attorneys, hopefully there is enough to warrant an action. Employers get away with this all to often however employees have won cases in Ca. under the circumstances you outlined. I encourage you to follow the link,and please tell us how it went. Sorry I cant do much more. Oh by the way file for unemployment if you have not already.
JoeC (McGruff)

It sounds that even if the prospective employer was in breach, the actual damages (your missing a week worth of contract work) would not justify pursuing legal action, and you are much better off moving forward with your other leads and/or negotiating with this company a modest separation agreement / compensation for their rescinding the agreement.

Thanks,

Arkady Itkin
htt://www.sanfranciscoemploymentlawfirm.com

Oh thats good news Ardy that was tough post. I cant remember but Ca. had several cases like the posters that were won in court.
JoeC (McGruff)

Thanks guys - that was very helpful. I did actually manage to speak with a retired labor judge in CA and he said that I defintely had damages, but they were the small claims variety. He said not to take this to an attorney because the cost is so huge and the damages are smaller.

He suggested to ask nicely, which I have in writing, for compensation. The offer letter definitely states that they will contact me in writing once the 2009 budget is approved. I got that notice this morning after I reported into work. They told me they would look into the compensation issue and get back to me this afternoon.

We'll see. Maybe I'll get lucky and they'll chalk this up to a big misunderstanding/miscommunication/whatever and rectify the situation.

That is the problem with a lot of employment cases the damage awards are so small they are difficult to pursue because litigation cost are so high. I have heard so many times where employees had cases but could not pursue them because of cost.
JoeC (McGruff)

I used to think that too, but... perhaps it's a good thing as it discourages everyone from fighting fights that are not worth fighting. Attorneys' time is valuable but so is the time of the workers. If there isn't any money in a certain violation, any person is better off focusing on finding a new job or doing other things, rather than dealing with the stress of litigation, etc.

Yes but that should be up to the individual he should not be bared from justice by cost when he is wronged. The justice system is not geared for these $10,000 to $20,000 cases and the workers that need the most protection from unscrupulous employers are usually those on the bottom wrung if the economic spectrum.
The waitress, the newly arrived immigrant, those that are easy prey to employers willing to skirt the law have little refuge. A minimum wage worker who has a title VII violation ,just has to move along to the next joker that wise to the game. Why? Because his wage is low and those types of jobs are prevalent,and he has a duty to mitigate damages as well. These types of cases are deposition heavy which was supposed to "in theory" lower the cost of litigation has done just the opposite.

As far as the EEOC,DOL their a joke. All administrative remedies are limited and the agencies have little interest in pursuing a claim apart from minimal investigation,only a court process will get the employer's attention.
This post is a good example the posters out a weeks pay with little recourse,the complexity of who is at fault prevents even a small claims suite. McGruff is riled.
JoeC (McGruff)

You are right, and besides, it almost encourages employer to engage in smaller violations without much risk of consequences.
EEOC can only do so much as they are not as large and they are already overworked and overwhelmed. They usually join in the most egregious cases or cases that they have an interest in pursuing to establish new law or precedent.
DLSE (Department of Labor Standards Enforcement) or its equivalent in other states is pretty good though about enforcing wage and hour laws, at least here in California.

Then you got tort reform advocates got the whole damn country coned, Judges that just as soon not hear employment cases at all,and feel they should be handed over to arbitration, arbitrators that feel they should be tuned over to mediators, and mediators that sit at the end of the table singing Kumbayha cant we all just get along.

Well someone laughing Lord Kumbayha and its the usual suspects: restaurant owners, contractors, the chamber of commerce, Americans for the right to work. People better start waking up and showing some righteous American anger and get their head's out of their ass, or the working class of this country is going to end up like coolies selling manufactured good to the Chinese,and the Koreans wondering what happened to their wages on the road to serfdom.
JoeC (McGruff)