L03 Statements by Employers

Recruitment includes attempts to persuade candidates to accept a job offer: a wooing process. Promises concerning promotions, pay increases or working conditions can provide a basis for legal action involving misrepresentation, breach of contract (implicit, implied or written), and civil fraud.

Fraud requires that a person has been persuaded to accept a position based on misrepresentations such as:

• A false representation of a material fact was made to another person.
• The party making the statement knew that it was false at the time that it was made (or had reckless disregard for the truth).
• The party making the statement intended the other person to rely on the false representation and to act or refrain from acting in a certain way.
• The other person was, in fact, induced or refrain from acting.
• The other person was harmed by reliance on the false misrepresentation.

The bases can include any material representation made during the interview and offer process:

• compensation
• moving expenses
• real estate commissions
• length of assignment or anything that would induce an applicant to accept an offer and in some cases, end their association with another employer.

Similar actions can happen on the part of the employee, let’s look at those in the next section.