Legal Question in Employment Law in California

Questionable Hiring Practices

I have recently had a difficult situation with the hiring process at a large, well known Silicon Valley tech company. Essentially, they lied to me about several aspects of the hiring process and I feel that the company did a bait-and-switch on me. I have decided not to take the position (at the last minute) because I do not feel like I can work for someone that blatantly lies to me. I am curious if I do have some sort of claim against them for their deceptive practices or at the very least, if there is some state agency I can report this to.

I have more details about the situation that will fully illustrate the whole problem which I will have to include in an email or other posting due to the character limit on this posting.


Asked on 2/10/04, 2:18 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Robert F. Cohen Law Office of Robert F. Cohen

Re: Questionable Hiring Practices

Unless you detrimentally relied on the promises -- such as quitting your old job -- and accepted the new job, there's not much you could do in the way of a personal lawsuit. There are no monetary damages. Your aggravation may be worth a little bit, but we all can expect aggravation in our lives.

However, a creative lawyer might consider suing under Business and Professions Code section 17200 for unfair competition, as defined in the section: "[U]nfair competition shall mean and include any unlawful, unfair or fraudulent business act or practice and unfair, deceptive, untrue or misleading advertising and any act prohibited by Chapter 1 . . ." The plaintiff may not receive much (if any) money if victorious, but the practice is brought to light and can be enjoined.

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Answered on 2/12/04, 10:04 pm


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