Negligent Misprepresentation and Potential Remedy

My question involves labor and employment law for the state of: "At will" state... would prefer not to name actual state...

I recently accepted a job offer that requires relocation. The position as represented in the job offer was a nice career step for me which is why we decided to relocate our family. In addition, my wife took a transfer to her firm's office in our relocation area.

Upon starting, I discovered that my title was not what was presented in the job offer. Without giving away anything I can be identified by, let's say that instead of managing multiple business units I was now only responsible for one. If I had known this, I would not have accepted the position and agreed to relocate.

I don't believe the misrepresentation was fraudulent in any way. However, I'm confident there was a miscommunication between the HR Dept (US-based) who presented the offer and the hiring manager (non-US based). After doing some of my own research, I believe there is a strong case to be made for negligent misrepresentation.

My questions to those of you much more knowledgeable than I in this area are:

1. Is a claim of negligent misrepresentation valid in this case? If more information is needed, please let me know and I'll try my best to answer without divulging specific details.

2. If there is a valid neg. misrep. claim, what would the remedy be? I walked away from a good career at my former employer and, in addition, I had a very good offer in my current area that I turned down as well. Again, if any further details are needed, please let me know.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

As you were told when you posted, laws vary by state.

Your state may be an exception, but I expect you'll learn that a claim of negligent misrepresentation is irrelevant as it's within your employer's discretion to change your job duties at any time. If you had a written contract to the contrary, you would have told us about it. Absent a contract, and absent something that elevates you from being an at-will employee, there's nothing that guarantees you the same job duties, position, or even a job come tomorrow.

But by all means, discuss your case with an employment lawyer in your state, as without that basic information nobody here can be specific.

Thanks for the reply, Aaron. You're correct that there is no contract- only the original job offer letter. It's disconcerting to think that one would not have any legal recourse in a situation like this. After all, I'm having to uproot my family for what now turns out to be a job I could have had anywhere.

A couple of other points:

- Would it make any difference if I wasn't granted certain benefits (e.g., stock options) explicitly detailed in the job offer? The position I'm in now doesn't qualify for certain benefits that were included in the job offer letter under the "higher level" title.

- We haven't relocated yet. My wife could possibly get her previous job back at our current location and I should be able to find something in the area without any problems as well. Since my current employer changed (to my detriment) my title, responsibilities, some benefits, etc., on my first day, do I have any legal recourse in refusing to relocate since I accepted the position under false circumstances? I did receive a signing bonus that, per the job offer letter, would need to be paid back if I left the company within 12 months. Is this enforceable given the fact that the job offer letter isn't a contract?

We're not going to waste time with conjecture until you at least give us the name of the state.