Time sensitive – Offer Rescind

[Conner Lantz]

#79509

Hello there!

Hope all is well! Spectraforce is a staffing company and we are in the process of demo-ing this product :).

We recently extended a job offer to a candidate in Ontario based on our clients need. Unfortunately, the client just informed us that there was an administrative error made when releasing the budget for this position. The candidate signed the employment agreement earlier today, agreeing to the rate of $38/hour, and the new rate would be $28/hour. He currently has another job (and we confirmed he hasn’t put in his resignation yet), and had another job offer on the table for ($37/hour).
A few questions on this:

Do we have any obligation to pay him out?
What risk do we have at this point and what are recommended next steps? (I doubt very highly he will still want to move forward with this role based on the large change in pay rate, and information in his employment agreement is no longer accurate)
Thank you!

[Conner Lantz]

#79510

I’m afraid that you have entered into a binding contract with the candidate and are bound to honour it. However, you can cut your losses by notifying the candidate IMMEDIATELY of the situation and advise him NOT to tender his resignation if he’s not happy with the reduced rate. But if he already has resigned in reliance of your offer, you could be liable for breach of contract on a number of different theories, including constructive dismissal. In addition, you could be liable for damages covering the accepted and actual pay differential.

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