Unprofessional Offer
I interviewed with a huge insurance firm a few weeks ago and received an offer from them. In the original offer letter they extended me $33/ hour. I signed the letter and returned it to them promptly. A few days ago they contacted me stating that after reviewing my returned offer letter, they noticed the $33/hour was actually a mistake and they can only offer me $20/hr. They sent me a new "corrected" offer letter and would like me to consider and respond by Wednesday. I feel kind of baited and switched here. I understand that this might have been an honest mistake but I turned down other offers paying more than $20 an hour because this firm was offering more. I feel stuck because now I can't take any of the postions I had offered to me from other companies. Do I have any options here?
EDIT: It's a summer internship and at will employment
Those people are animals
No options here. Probably an HR mistake, nothing to see.
Sad but true welcome to real life
Man I hate insurance companies more and more daily and now this? a whole new level of hatred. I have no advice for you unfortunately, if you have no better options then you have to take it, but if I were you I would already be looking for new opportunities to leave that shit hole asap
Uhm take the other offers??
Maybe you could tell them that you turned down other offers with a higher wage and ask them politely to reconsider?
Their HR/legal team might be willing to pay you the extra $13/hr rather than having the legal hassle/risk it becoming public and make their company look bad (although I dunno if this is true)
Wait, so you have a mutually signed contract at $33 an hour and they are trying to reneg on the contract? Is there a reneg clause? I would be out for blood.
AT..WILL..EMPLOYMENT.. out for blood how? They could fire you on the first day and then offer you $20 as a new employment.. effectively the same thing.
Depending on what state he's in, he could sue on the grounds of foregoing the other offer and he would probably win or they would settle out of court. I wouldn't recommend suing, but I would definitely hold their ass to the fire for something since they jerked him around so badly. When you sign a contract, it's binding.
not to mention the information would be considered 'material' since you made major choices due to the offer. You could prolly get some money if you decided to sue. Honestly though, do you want to work for a company that operates that way?
definitely sue for the $13/hr + an extra $5/hr for wasting your time.
ask your career services? if it was through ocr.
I agree with the 'at will employment' comment. I would then come back and tell them you originally signed a good offer, now you are offered a significant amount less. This opens the door for some negotiation I think, now ask for $27 with the bottom goal of $25 or higher. I would be pissed. Did you discuss pay with the people who interviewed you (I know that's sort of frowned upon in IBD)? What did they say? I would leverage the mistake for better than $20 an hour...
What kind of job is this? Actuarial?
I'd try to strong arm a bit. Mention that you turned down other high-paying positions. Additionally, bring this to your career services. They may have heard of this company doing this to previous students and could help you out or at least help other students not get duped in the future.
Wow, this is unprofessional to a degree I have never seen before. You would have been making ~50% more at $33/hr.
Tricky thing though...you signed a contract, which they have to honor (in theory), but you are an employee at will, so they can fire you at will, with little consequence. I'm not a lawyer, but normally you can only sue for actual damages. If you turned down other jobs that paid more, that may be a case, because you would have earned more were it not for their misrepresentation. I would try to get them to honor their commitment. If not, you can say that you turned down another job that paid $X to accept this job and they should at least pay you that.
While I do agree that there are legal grounds in the case (lost wages from their misrepresentation are bona fide damages), it's absolutely, positively not worth suing over. Filing suit against a former employer over $13/hour for a (I'm assuming) college internship is not at all worth it.
I think your only options are to either bring up the offers that you turned down kindly asking them to match it or just take the position at 20/hr. There's no way you can fight try to get the original 33/hr and not leave a sour taste in their mouths
if you signed wouldn't it be a valid contract....but, couldn't they fire you the first day?
Of course you could refuse to sign the new contract and insist that they honor the first offer. But they are free to rescind that offer at any time, for any reason. The only recourse here is legal action, and that's a terrible idea.
EDIT: Obviously you can talk to the firm about it and try to get it rectified, but there isn't much you can do if they just say "no".
is this intern or ft op?
I would write to them:
"Hello Mrs. Huge Tits,
I was offered at X positions at other firms. I accepted to work for your company because X and frankly, the pay was attractive. I will not accept a salary of $20 per hour. I was offered higher salaries at other companies and the market has dictated that my value is higher than $20/hr. The minimum I will accept is the highest paid position from the other offers. We both signed a contract in good faith at $33 per hour and I'm doing my best to compromise to the matter.
Best Regards,
Your Name"
uhm this is why you keep all your options open.
Or leverage this for a better deal like stated above.
If this is FT, definitely bail out for a better job.
Agree with this, but I don't know many FT jobs that pay based on hourly rates (at least in the pay ranges being discussed here). This sounds like Actuarial work to me.
If it was through OCR you might be able to use that to strong arm them into something close to your original offer. If not I would still negotiate. If you are a junior going into senior they should be paying you close to your full-time salary pro-rated. (at least from personal experience) So if 60k a year, like $29 per hour or so.
Are you close with any business law or law professors at your school?
I took a class in my college days where the professor was a high-powered lawyer winding down his career; was infamous for actively helping students negotiate contract debates. I have no authority to give legal advice but from what I studied the contract you signed is the one they are legally required to pay you on... but that can obviously involve some lengthy legal proceedings if you actually want it to go that way.
If you have another option available, cut your losses and take that. If you feel like being a fiesty little f*ck, hold your ground. Would probably be better for your career to take another option. It is just an internship... you can go from nothing to something in one semester.
EDIT: forgot to add- if you are close with your professors... talk to them.
I think more context would be helpful. Is this for FT or an internship?
Despite the comments above, I have serious doubts that trying to strong-arm your future employer is a prudent course of action. The legal route is hardly attractive either. Try to kindly negotiate; if that doesn't work out, sign the contract and look for employment elsewhere.
That was nothing OP I had this interview where they wouldn't even get some one to let me out of the building.... Had to sit for 5 minutes while the HR woman finished her phone call to escort me out......
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