Ok. Hopefully, I can get the advice of some of our resident attorneys. Here's the scenario...
Prospective Employee A (we'll call her "my wife") accepts a position from Company A, and returns a signed offer letter to said company. The offer letter includes only the following data:
- Position
- Job Description
- Benefits/Vacation/PTO/Sick Leave
- Review frequency
- Starting Salary
- Acknowledgment of accepting position, pay, and future requirement to sign no-compete agreement
I would be happy to send the full offer letter to any of our resident attorneys who want to inspect it.
No start date was included and no term of employment was agreed-upon. Due to obligations to her previous company, Company A knows that my wife could not begin employment until April 1st. During the interview with Company A, the interviewer (Excutive Vice President) also noted that the company and employee had the benefit of a "90-day trial period".
Then Company B (a company with which she had already interviewed) contacted her three days ago with a significantly better offer and more stability/support. She accepted the offer from Company B and sent an email to Company A to inform them that she would not be able to join their company.
The result was an email from the EVP of Company A stating that they would take legal action and seek damages should she not reconsider.
I live in an employment "At-Will" state.
My own position is that the offer letter itself does not override the "employment at-will" status offered to both employers and employees of my state.
Any advice from those who understand employment law better than I would be appreciated.