Boss Asks If He’s Wrong For Rescinding A New Hire’s Offer Of Employment 10 Minutes Before The Employee’s First Day
What he did could land his company in legal hot water.
WHYFRAME | Shutterstock A new job comes with a learning curve no matter the role, so managers should give their new employees some grace as they find their footing with the company. One boss admitted in a recent Reddit post that he did the exact opposite, and is now questioning if he was in the wrong.
The gas station manager rescinded a new hire’s job offer just 10 minutes before his first shift began.
“I am a general manager at a small chain of high-end gas stations in southwest Florida,” the 34-year-old man explained. “I came on very recently to a store that lost its GM as well as two-thirds of its staff and was running on a skeleton crew.”
The manager’s first priority, of course, was to build out his team. “I immediately began scheduling interviews every day,” he said. “[On] my first day, I interviewed a 20-year-old kid who wowed me. He had gas station experience, showed up five minutes early, dressed appropriately [and] was well-spoken. He had questions to ask, good answers to my questions and overall, just seemed really impressive.”
PeopleImages.com - Yuri A
“The position he applied for was a retail associate position, the base starting position for every new employee,” he continued. “He had put on his application that he wanted $16 [an] hour, which I told him I wasn’t sure I was able to get.”
After some maneuvering on his end, the manager was able to secure a starting salary of $15.25 for the new hire. “I went to him with the news, and he accepted and was excited to start," the man recalled. "I sent him an official letter which he almost immediately signed and sent back to me.”
Although everything appeared to be going well, things quickly fell apart on the employee’s first day.
“Today, an hour before his first shift, he asks me if he can come in 30 minutes early to get a feel of the vibe,’” he recounted. “I immediately asked him what he meant by that."
The new employee explained that he wanted to see if the store and the position would be a good fit for him, confusing the manager. "I proceeded to ask him why he would be asking when he was originally really excited to start working and even complimented the store itself and said how excited he is to work for us specifically because of how close we are to his home,” the Redditor wrote.
The new hire had quite the answer for the manager. “He retorts with, ‘Well, to be honest, I’m coming out of respect to you, but the pay is too low for me so I’m not sure it’s going to be a good long-term thing.’”
fizkes | Shutterstock
This was absolutely the wrong thing to say. The manager informed him that he had already agreed to their terms and was proving himself to be unreliable and lacking commitment. He then rescinded his offer just 10 minutes before his shift began.
After this, the man begged for his job back, but the manager was quite firm in his decision. Still, he was left wondering if he was too hard on the new hire.
This manager made a poor business decision.
While the new hire certainly didn't respond professionally, according to the Society for Human Resource Management, rescinding a job offer after an offer letter has already been signed can lead to legal problems.
“Promissory estoppel is a legal doctrine that supports a harmed party in enforcing such promises made, even if a true contract did not exist,” they explained.
While this situation is unlikely to escalate very far since it was over a minimum wage job at a gas station, an almost-employee in these circumstances could take legal action against the employer.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer with a bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism who covers news, psychology, lifestyle, and human interest topics.