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Breach of Contract
My question involves business law in the state of: Florida
This question is for my wife. She has been doing an internship for a very big company for the past two summers. They gave her a verbal agreement for her to work there when she finished school. She has been receiving emails for the past two years stating they can't wait for her to start, invites to all of the company functions, and asking her give them a date for when she will start. By her thinking she would have a job, she told them when she finishes Grad school and they said ok. The other day she gave them a date and they told her they would call her back. They called her back yesterday and said that they are not going to hire her because they weren't hiring any more. She told them how she has turned down many job opportunities with competitors of the company because of their verbal contract. Also she knows someone in the company and they told her they were still hiring people and that the reason (rumor) they are not going to hire her is because she has a baby and they don't think she will work the long hours. My question is, is this legal?
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Re: Breach of Contract
She had best start seeking a job with one of those competitors.
Business circumstances change, such that job offers end up being revoked. That doesn't of itself suggest that anything nefarious occurred.
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Re: Breach of Contract
Pregnancy is a protected class, however.
The trick would be a) proving that the rumormill was correct and b) proving that this was the actual reason for the situation.
All the company would have to do is show other folks with kids in the same position and your wife's case starts to fall apart.
Hmmm.... you may want to run this past an attorney, though.... after you go to Monster and a few of the other sites to see if they actually ARE still hiring in your wife's discipline.
That is the other part... different departments may be on a hiring freeze than others.
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Re: Breach of Contract
I interpreted "she has a baby" to mean "she has a baby", not "she's pregnant". (Not that denying somebody a job on the basis of family status couldn't support a potential action.) But either way, there does not appear to be any evidence that the baby has something to do with the withdrawal of the offer. Sure, get a free legal consultation, but be prepared to produce something more substantive than "there are rumors" if you want the lawyer to bite - the evidence cyjeff suggests of any discriminatory pattern in hiring, the source of the rumors, why the source would have special knowledge of their hiring decisions, etc.