News Article

An employment tribunal has ordered an employer to pay damages of one month’s salary for breach of contract after it withdrew a verbal job offer. What was the case all about and what are the lessons to be learned from it? 

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In McCann v Snozone Ltd 2016 the employer appointed a recruitment agency to identify suitable candidates for a job vacancy. Following two interviews, McCann (M) was verbally offered the post over the telephone by the agency acting on behalf of the employer and he verbally accepted it. The salary and start date had not been agreed at that point. The employer subsequently withdrew the job offer and so M brought a claim in the employment tribunal for damages for breach of contract. 

The employment tribunal held that the verbal offer and acceptance created a contract of employment which could then only be terminated by the giving of notice in accordance with that contract. However, as the employer had terminated the contract without notice by withdrawing the offer of employment, M was entitled to damages for breach of contract equal to salary in lieu of notice. As no contractual notice period had been agreed, the tribunal said that reasonable contractual notice should have been given by the employer and it held that a reasonable notice period was one month, taking into account the seniority of the post and the fact that M’s salary would have been paid monthly. M was therefore awarded damages for breach of contract amounting to one month’s salary of £2,708. 

A verbal job offer still constitutes a legally binding employment contract once it’s been accepted by a job applicant, even if some of the main terms, such as salary, have yet to be finalised and even though the individual has not actually started work yet. The legal position here is just the same as it is for written job offers. So, it’s advisable to avoid making verbal job offers as you could find that an employment contract comes into existence even before terms have been agreed. 

For any further advice or information please contact the team here at SFB Consulting. Our offices are based in Bishop’s Stortford and London, but we offer our services and consultancy UK wide. 

T:01279 874 676 

E:info@sfb-consulting.com