I was offered two different promotions, the one I chose was then no longer available. What can I legally do?

Question

I was offered a position in a different department or a promotion in my current department. I chose to go to the other department and the promotion in my department was given to another employee. Then I was told that the position I chose was no longer available. Is there anything that I can do legally?

Answer 1

Generally, a contract does not have to be in writing to be enforceable. A contract can be formed by offer and acceptance. The employer's offer of a promotion in the other department constituted a valid offer. Your acceptance of that offer constituted a valid acceptance. Therefore, you have an enforceable contract between the two of you. By rescinding the offer after you had accepted, the employer breached that contract.

However, if you want to sue, you should contact a lawyer. Additionally, it may not make a difference: you may think you are better off just staying quiet than by suing your employer. Remember, you will need to prove damages. Were you going to get a higher salary? You can probably only recover the difference between current and promised salary. And even then, you'll hve to pay for an attorney, which isn't cheap. When all that is done, you may not be left with that much money, so it may not be worth it.

Again, call a lawyer for specific legal advice.

Answer 2

Unless you signed a contract saying that you were gauranteed that job, what they did was perfectly legal and there's nothing you can do at this time. In the US at least; other countries may have different laws. I think the only thing you could do legally is to prove that you were discriminated against (like if your new manager didn't want you because of your race). Only pursue this path if you have proof though.

Answer 3

Legally, no.

Just forget about it until a new position becomes available.