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Thursday, August 09, 2007
Job offers
Adrian Twomey
Q: I have been working at a particular pub for the last few years and everything has been going well there.
I have, however, been under a bit of financial pressure as the job doesn't pay particularly well. I happened to mention that fact to a friend of mine, who put me in touch with the owner of another pub. He was looking to hire staff and he indicated that he would pay me an extra €1 per hour as well as slightly longer hours (42 hours per week as opposed to 38).
Needless to say, I was delighted to get the offer and, after indicating that I would accept and agreeing a start date, I handed in my notice to my old employer. I worked out my notice and then went away on a week's holidays. When I got back, I called in to my new "employer" to check on the hours that I was scheduled to work the following week. To my surprise, he told me that he no longer had a job for me as a former employee had returned from Australia and that he had to give her first preference.
I now find myself out of work, having given up a job in which I had been quite happy (and where I have since been replaced). I can't believe that this has happened to me. Surely I have some comeback against the second publican?
Name and Address with Editor
A:You probably do have some comeback against the second publican. Your case is very similar to one heard by the High Court a few years ago, in which a journalist moved from one newspaper to another, having been given assurances as to her hours of work. When the new employer refused to honour those assurances and the journalist was forced to leave, she successfully sued, claiming that she would never have given up her original job had she not been offered the second post on specific terms. Unfortunately, you are not protected by such legislation as the Unfair Dismissals Acts, because you have not completed a full year of service with the new employer.
However, the ordinary principles of contract law should come to your assistance. In the first instance, it seems clear that you do have a binding contract with the second publican, even if the terms of that contract were never recorded in writing.
A job offer was made to you. While the publican could have withdrawn that offer at any time (and without attracting any liability) before you accepted it or rejected it, he did not do so. Rather, you accepted the offer, on clearly agreed terms, and so a legally binding contract was created.
Usually an employer can bring such an employment contract to an end by giving reasonable prior notice. In your case, that notice might have been a week or so. However, he did not allow you to commence your employment and then give you notice. Rather, he sought to terminate the contract before you had even started work.
It is at this point that a relatively recent High Court case becomes relevant. In the case in question, a journalist was induced to leave one newspaper and join another on the basis of representations made to her by the new employer as regards the hours that she would work.
On the basis of those representations, she resigned from her old job. When the new employer failed to live up to the promises that it had made, she found herself having no option other than to resign. She was now out of work, rather like yourself, having given up a perfectly good job because of promises made to her by the new employer. In that case, the High Court found that she had suffered real financial loss because of the new employer's failure to live up to its promises or representations.
It awarded her compensation on that basis. In summary, you have the basis for a compensation claim in the civil courts. Bear in mind, however, that pursuing such a claim would entail a degree of risk and your legal costs could be quite significant.
Do talk to your solicitor about every aspect of the case before making a decision. Even the smallest detail of your conversations with the second publican could be of critical importance.
Adrian Twomey practices in the area of employment law at Doyles Solicitors of Wexford and New Ross. In his regular column he answers your questions about the law as it applies to you and your work. Adrian can be contacted on 053-9123077.
This week's question relates to offers of employment.
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