do I have a case?

[jhsie]

Jeff from New York,

I was recently offered a local role by a major firm to be a tech lead. I accepted the offer and started with the company with 2 days of orientation. After completing the orientation, I was told by my manager that the role I was hired for has be eliminated. My HR Rep told me that I have until 6/30 (about a month and a half total) to find a new role within the firm or I will be laid off.

I had to quit my previous job to accept the current job, now i am facing potential lay off due to a role that was not finalized before the company posts hiring notice.

Do I have a case? Is there any preparation i need to do before being laid off?

Thanks

 

[Beth3]

Do I have a case? Only if the company knew all along that the job was going to be eliminated and failed to tell you. Their doing that wouldn't make a whole lot of sense though - why would they go to the trouble and expense of hiring you just so they could tell you that the job would be eliminated right after you started? Chances are they're just guilty of poor management, not fraudulent hiring practices.

 

[cbg]

It's also possible that the trigger for having to eliminate your job didn't happen until after you were already on board. I have literally seen a job offer made Tuesday, the employee started work Thursday, and on the following Monday the company suffered adverse and unforeseeable losses that required not only that the new position be withdrawn, but that 30 other employees got laid off as well.

We can't possibly know if that's the case or not, but if it were, the company would not have any liability since the offer was made in good faith.

The reason for the job being eliminated is the key to any legal case you may have.

 

[jhsie]

Thank you so much for the response.

The role was cancelled because the client decided to go with another approach.

Is there anything I can recover? Because of this career move, it would look very bad on my resume to have a 1 month job and it would definitely be detrimental on my future career search.

 

[cbg]

Speaking as someone who has reviewed hundreds of resumes in her day, a one-month job in the circumstances you describe is not nearly as detrimental as you think.

Most companies want cover letters with resumes these days. It is very easy to include something like, "Due to my employer's decision to follow a different direction only a few weeks after I began my employment, I find myself in the job market again..." It shouldn't be hard to find a reasonable spin.

Short term jobs in the current market are understandable and expected. Short term jobs only work against you if you either quit without a VERY good reason (showing instablility) or were fired for cause. Being laid off due to a company's change in direction should not work against you whether you worked there for 6 weeks or 16 years.

 

[gwm65]

It's also possible that the trigger for having to eliminate your job didn't happen until after you were already on board. I have literally seen a job offer made Tuesday, the employee started work Thursday, and on the following Monday the company suffered adverse and unforeseeable losses that required not only that the new position be withdrawn, but that 30 other employees got laid off as well.

We can't possibly know if that's the case or not, but if it were, the company would not have any liability since the offer was made in good faith.

The reason for the job being eliminated is the key to any legal case you may have.

***BE CAREFUL*** CBG is an HR person with an obvious bias for employers. Just keep an open mind and know you may have to look elsewhere for an unbiased answer.