Legal Question in Employment Law in Pennsylvania
What constitutes a valid employment contract
My company employs via contract from the president. The pres. offers a contr., which must be signed & returned within 2 wks. The pres. then signs & returns to employee. Common practice is for the pres. to sign the contr. as convenient, & this can take months.
The pres. made a contr. offer, which I signed & returned within the 2 wk period. The contr. was accompanied by letter from the pres. stipulating ''I will return a copy of the contract bearing both signatures by July 1.''
4 days after the 2 week offer period/1 week after I signed & returned the contract, a supervisor indicated that the pres. would not sign & return the contract. The contract was never signed or returned by the pres.
I believe that an offer was made & I accepted, thus creating a meeting of minds & a contract. The company states that the contract is not valid because it was not signed by the pres. I believe the pres. obligated himself to sign via the cover letter. Also his signature is just a clerical detail. In common practice at the institution contracts have always been signed & returned by the pres., once signed & returned by staff. The signature of the pres. has always been treated as a clerical detail.
Was there a contract?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: What constitutes a valid employment contract
A contract does not have to be in writing to be bindig. However, even if the president had signed the contract you would still be an employee at will unless the contract provided a definite term of employment. Most employment contract do not.
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