I was offered a position 3 weeks ago, which i accepted. I was in contact with the spokesperson for the company up until Friday when he gave me some paper work and told me he would call me saturday evening with my start date it would be monday or tuesday. I then recived a call from a different bored member who said I did not get the job. I am very confused can they do this to me? i have already left my other job and can not go back. What do I do?
There's no simple answer here; it depends on several factors. One, did the original "spokesperson" for the company have the authority to offer you a job? Two, did the required elements for a contract exist in your oral communications? Finally, did you agree to a specific term of employment?
Pennsylvania business law requires that, to bind a company to a contract, the person making the offer must have actual or "apparent" authority. If the person who "hired" you had actual or apparent authority, the company may be held responsible for the offer.
Did you communicate your acceptance to the company? For a contract to be binding, there must be three factors: an offer, acceptance, and consideration -- meaning that there would have to be a benefit to both parties from the relationship. If there was a specific offer that you accepted by communicating your acceptance to the company, one basis of consideration would be your giving up your prior job in anticipation of working for the offering company and being prepared to report for work.
Another important question would be whether you agreed to work for this company for a finite term of employment (six months, one year, two years, or the like) or whether you agreed that you would work for an unspecified term. Pennsylvania is an "at will" state for employment agreements. That means that unless you had an agreement to work for a specific length of time, the employer may terminate the employment at any time, for any reason (with some exceptions).
Do the papers you received from the company have any indication of the agreement, or is there a cover letter welcoming you to employment with the firm? That could be an important piece of information.
You might consider marshalling your information and consulting with an attorney who does employment law work to see if you have any chance of success in making a claim against the company, but my suspicions are that you may be caught in a conflict of management in the hiring firm. With no specific term of employment and no written contract, you'd have a difficult time proving damages against the company. Realistically, you could have reported for work as scheduled and the company could have terminated you that same day. It may not seem fair, but that's the way the law works in this instance.
The other response gave you thorough advice about the problems in proving a breached employment agreement under PA law. You need to have a qualified PA contract/employment lawyer review the paperwork that the company gave you and you need to examine the status of the 2 representatives you spoke with to analyze the agency issue of whether they had authority to hire and not hire you like that.
You clearly incurred damages, having left your other job, but whether you were able to rely on the hiring and whether this company is liable for the statements of its agents that caused you damage needs to be determined.
Disclaimer: Please note that this answer does not constitute legal advice, and should not be relied on, since each state has different laws, each situation is fact specific, and it is impossible to evaluate a legal problem without a comprehensive consultation and review of all the facts and documents at issue. This answer does not create an attorney-client relationship.
