If an employer promises me a job and doesn't give it to me, can I file a lawsuit?

Question

In June I went on an interview. They said i'll be getting the job by July 2. Then they said it is going to be delayed until July 9. Then they said it will be delayed for another 2 weeks. Every time I call them, they keep saying they will give me the answer the next day. Now they are completely ignoring my calls.

The excuse they keep giving as to the reason I am not getting the job: because of background checks to their own company by the company that I am supposed to be working with.

Whenever I ask them, is the job still there? Am I definitely getting the job? They say, yes, the job is definitely there. I said, am I going to get it before September when my school starts, and they say yes. But they keep delaying it, that was okay. But now they completely ignore my calls. Because I call them, they don't pick up, but I call from a different phone and they they pick up.

Can I sue them for loss of income? Thanks.

Answer 1

How could you sue for loss of income when you never got an income from them? They only way they are even slightly liable is if they gave you a written job offer, and you quit your current job, and then they did not give you the job to start.
You just need to find somewhere else to get a job at.

Answer 2

Did you get an offer letter from them stating you would start on July 2nd? Without anything in writing you do not have anything that would ever hold up in court. I also would not sue, because by them time this case ever went to court you will be done with school, have a good paying job and probably be well established into whatever career you have chosen.

In the United States all employment is at will for both the employer and the employee. What this means is unless there was a contract stating you would start on July 2nd, recieve a salary of ....., perform certan professional duties and your employment would stop on ..... there really is nothing for a court case. Just as you could quit a job or stike at any time, an employer has the right to terminate employment at any time (except if their is discrimination).

It sounds like you showed some great initiative in trying to follow up with your potential employer. However, some showing too much initiative scares off an employer

While this situation is unfortunate, I would do everything you possibly could to move past this and get yourself a better job. If this company is telling you the truth and they do eventually call you to start than you can evaluate the opportunity once again.


Good luck!

Answer 3

You can file a lawsuit for any reason. The question here is, can you WIN a lawsuit, and do you have the time and money that it will take in order to do so?

An employer has the right to rescind a job offer at any time. Since you did not relocate to take the job, your chances of proving that you sustained a loss are negligible; the court will respond that you could have taken another job in the area (or kept the one that you have if you are currently working.)

If you did not pass a background check, that is another strike against you because that gives the employer a viable reason to rescind the offer. Most offers are made contingent upon the employee passing a background check.

IMO you'd have a hard time winning this one. Put your energies into finding another opportunity rather than into pursuing a lawsuit. Good luck.

Answer 4

There are already some great answers here, so to keep from duplicating, I will just add something via the form of questions/explanation...

1. Did you take a drug test?
2. Did you complete a medical questionaire or physical?
3. Did you sign an authorization and/or release or records for them to conduct a background check (besides just signing the application with reference info?)

If you did either of the first two things - they can only be done POST offer because legally, an employer CANNOT not use medical information to pre-screen you. They can only use it as a way to disqualify you after they've made an offer should you fail the drug screen or don't pass a physical...

As for my 3rd question, I have two thoughts here...

1) If you didn't sign anything and they have any kind of deragotry information on you, you have a right to question the kind of data they have collected on you (without your permission) and possibly would have a case against them for conducting the background without your consent &/or against a former employer for providing derogatory information against you... but this is probably the most unlikely scenario.

2) If they rescind the offer for ANY reason during the background check process, & they ARE using an outside company to conduct the background checks (i.e. they use a background investigation company to pull your MVR, credit, criminal records, etc). They must formally notify you of your failure to pass the background check with an "adverse action" letter in order to comply with the FCRA (Fair Credit Reporting Act) if they go through any vendor to pull any of your background reports. This act applies to ALL third party background checks, even if they don't pull your credit.

The ONLY exception to that last point is if, during the course of the background check, they discover that you omitted or mis-represented information on your application. In that case, it would be considered falsification (lying) on the application which is a legal reason for them to not hire you.

Now, if they are doing their own background checks in house and aren't using another agency, then you are pretty much out of luck and No, you couldn't sue them for lost wages.

Answer 5

NO. If they offered you the job and you accepted it and had agreed on all the terms (the start date, hours, compensation, duties) etc. and then you had done something to your detriment - i.e. move across the country to take the job which cost you $1,000 for instance - you might be able to sue for those damages but in this case you never had a start date or something that firm (which I gather from your questions "is the job still mine??") so you are SOL. My advice: find another job and move on. Don't bug them so much that they tell others in the community not to deal w/ you b/c you are such a pain.

Answer 6

Don't waste you time on a lawsuit. Start looking for a new job, if this job comes in before you get a new one - great. If you find a new one then take that. Sounds like this isn't the best company to work for anyhow, maybe if the job with them doesn't work out thats a blessing.

Answer 7

1) Do you believe your civil rights have been violated? 2) Can you prove that they made a promise, the reliance on which has substantively injured you financially? 3) What state are you in? 4) How much income are we talking about?

If the answer to the first two questions is no, I'd move on. If 1 is yes, contact EEOC first.
If 2 is yes, you might look into it further if 3 and 4 are favorable.

Answer 8

I would start looking for another job. You could sue them..But you aren't going to get anything unless you already had some paperwork signed. Even then, I don't think you would get anything because employers have the right to terminate you at any moment. Just as any employee has the right to quit at any moment.

Answer 9

Well you can sue them, but this doesn't mean you'll win.

By the way, what's the name of the company? A big one or just a 3-blocks away one?

Answer 10

I don't think you can sue because I'm pretty sure they have a right to detract the offer. However, I would give them a deadline. "I need to start work by this date or I will need to find somewhere else to work". Just be ready to start looking for another job if needed.