Legal Question in Employment Law in Massachusetts
Hi,
I accepted a job with tech a company starting October 10th as a Software Engineer. I accepted this job over a week ago.
Immediately following my official acceptance I promptly took my resume down from monster.com and other job boards. A recruiter from a firm called Alliance Networks contacted me about a job and I declined his offer. He insisted and continually called and e-mailed me for the next 2 days. I told him I already accepted a job but he convinced me that I have nothing to lose by interviewing at his client just to "see things through." I figured he was right and I gave the job a shot.
I interviewed at his client and they also gave me an offer letter. The recruiter from Alliance gave me a verbal offer which I accepted but the terms he verbally transmitted to me were very different from the terms listed in the actual offer letter. He informed me over the phone that the positon had a senior title and that their bonus plan 8% per year was paid based on individual goals and expected to be paid in full to all employees who do their job. Both of these items were not listed in the letter and his description of the bonus plan was wildly different.
Because of the differences in the terms I opted to not officially accept the job offer. The terms from the original company were both better and that was the job I really wanted after much debate with both myself and my friends.
I informed the recruiter at Alliance Networks of my decision and he got very mad and said he was going to tell the company I officially accepted an offer with that I was interviewing at other companies if I didn't accept the offer. He originally convinced me that I had "nothing to lose" and now that I haven't accepted his job he is threatening to contact my future employer and tell them that I have been interviewing with others.
I'm worried that he may cost me my new job. If he does, do I have legal recourse?
2 Answers from Attorneys
If he contacted the company where you accepted the position and that leads to the revocation of the offer or termination, you would have a claim for malicious interference with advantageous/contractual relationship. However, it may be difficult and costly to prove. What you should do is do everything you can to prevent the person from contacting the company. I think the best way is to hire an attorney to promptly write a letter to the person warning him not to do this and to threaten legal action if he does. If you wish to discuss further, please contact me offline.
You asked whether you have legal recourse IF he costs you your new job. The answer is YES. The question you should be asking, however, is do you have effective legal recourse- the answer is probably NO.
This is America, you can sue this guy for his negligent/fraudulent misrepresentations and perhaps an invasion of privacy. IF you lose your job, you even have reasonably ascertainable money damages resulting from his wrongful acts. On the other hand, you will have spent thousands in legal fees, you still won't have your job back, and there is never any guarantee that you will actually win...no matter how right you are...in a Court of Law.
My advice to you is to pay an attorney a flat fee ($350?) to send this joker a stern letter, warning him that IF he is going to persist in these actions that you are prepared to file a criminal complaint for threatening AND sue him civilly AND sue his company.
Please contact me if you decide to go this route.
Good Luck!
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