Been offered a new job - offer via E-mail

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Hi there,

I've been with my current employers for the past 3.5 years. Due to my girlfriend training to be a nurse I have had had to relocate to a city 40 miles away from where I work.

My current employer has been good to me in terms of pay rises, though the progression opportunities that have been presented to me are not directions I wish to move in.

I have found a new job, closer to my new home with a FTSE 100 listed outsourcing company. I am happy with the wage and the prospects within the company, however they have sent me the offer via E-mail through the job agency I used, and expect me to resign from my current poisition on this basis.

Has anyone else experienced this? I am particularly concerned, as my current job pays £27k (I have a long way to fall if things go wrong), and feel quite vulnerable that my notice period runs over the general election.. a hung parliament could have adverse effects on any publicly owned company....

Cheers

Mad_Maxx

 

Why not drive 40 miles in and sign it with them in person?

 

That is what i would do

But just Phone them ahead to not surprise them.

 

Just ask for a hard copy contract, an email isn't usually a legally binding document because it would need to be signed by both parties anyway.

Once you have the hard copy, are happy with all the terms and conditions and return it to them and they sign it and return it to you would be the time I would resign from my current position.

Oh and a 40 mile commute isn't that much, I spend 4 hours a day commuting by train.

 

I agree, however I've found a job which I believe will offer better prospects and is closer to where I live. I would rather save money and develop my career in the way I wish to.

 

A job offer on header paper is no different to an email, it can still be withdrawn.

Emails are considered to be binding these days.

Are you going to be a temp?

 

Mate I wasn't having a go, just letting you know that a 40 mile commute isn't that much.

I have already advised what I would do if I were in your shoes.

Go for what's right for you.

 

Agreed, to a large degree even a signed contract isn't worth the paper it's written on, however you're more likely to feel safe if you have a signed contract in front of you than an email that can, quite simply be spoofed by his next door neighbour or someone from the office.

Much better to have something in the hand than something on the screen.

 

Really? [sarcasm]I must have missed the edict from a non-specific legal body where that was 'decided'[\sarcasm]

Sorry, but I've seen 'advice' like this before get people into a LOT of trouble - specifically a DBA who I used to work with who got a job offer via email from a US-based company, took the offer in good faith, gave his resignation in - then had the 'offer' pulled from under him. He had no legal recourse because he had not been given a signed contract offer - and subsequently returned that signed offer with his own signature on it - prior to handing in his notice at the role I worked with him.

Be very, very careful about this. You don't have to be arsey - just tell them that you need to have the job offer in writing, together with an agreed start date, because you can't resign from your current role without it.

 

What is binding about a hard copy signed by both parties?

 

An e-mail exchange CAN be a contract, just like oral communication can constitute a contract. No signature is required, just evidence that the parties intended to obligate one another.

But yes I agree, best to get it in writing.

As soon as you have been offered a job, and have accepted it, this forms a basic legal contract between you and your new employer, even if you haven't yet received anything in writing.

If that offer is subsequently withdrawn, your employer has 'breached' the contract. It may be possible for you to sue your employer as a result, particularly if you have suffered loss because you have left your previous job to take up the new offer.

If a court decides that your contract was breached, it can order your employer to pay you 'damages' or compensation.

 

The agency should be taking care of this for you. As with all jobs I've had through an agency I have always requested that they get their client to make the offer in writing along with the contract of employment and terms and conditions. In all cases the agencies have accpeted that and usually within a few days the paperwork comes through the post! It has only been at that point that I hand in my notice.

So request that the agency speak to their client to organise the above mentioned items to be posted to you.

 

I personally too would wait for a hard copy letter in the post and vice versa. I recently got offered a new role and though we were in the same building as HR still got a copy of offer letter via e-mail and in the post as well. Cheerio and best wishes

 

Are you sure? ... I didn't think they could be used as evidence in UK Law.

Anyway i agree get a hardcopy it is better and your right all contracts are breakable.

 

There was a case a while back where an email was disputed as a valid contract/agreement.
The judge ruled that it was considered binding if the sender of the email had his name at the bottom, just as you would on a signed agreement.
Simply the fact that the email existed, or was sent from the users account was not enough.

Quite often nowadays people will accept a typed signature.
MS do on their contracts/agreements, and anyone who has applied for a job online is expected to type their name on the application form in place of a signature.

I'd personally say that you take a risk either way, the same way you do when you leave any job for another. There's always a gamble. They could ask you to leave the day after you got there, or tell you that they don't like you at the end of the probation period.

Email or signed agreement on company letterhead. What are you going to do? Take them to court for being mean?

Huh. The modern world, crazy or what.

Leap of faith my friend.
Good luck.

 

That is pretty scary considering how easy it is to spoof and most judges do not have the technical knowledge to even realise that its possible to spoof emails.