My son-in-law was approached by a company in TX and was offered a job.  they
wined and dined him, did background check and asked him how much he
wanted.  He gave them a figure and came back with a monetary offer,
doubling what he asked for.  they told him he had the job and he
accepted their offer and then resigned from his current job.  the day
he was suppose to sign the contract with the new company, they changed
their mind saying that he had too many jobs and wasn't comfortable
that he would stay with them.  He is a financial advisor.  now he has
no job, with a family, mortgage, car payments, etc.  does he have any
legal rights where he can sue?

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Request for Question Clarification by weisstho-ga on 08 Aug 2006 18:31 PDT

Promissory Estoppel?

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An "at will" employee can be terminated for any non protected reason.
Protections exist only for race, gender, age, religion, etc.  A
company is allowed to simply change its mind without any legal
recourse.  The only possible way you could allege fraud is if you have
evidence that the company made an offer that it did not intend to keep
for the purpose of inducing this person to quit his previous job.

I guess he should have signed the contract BEFORE he quit.  Lesson
learned.  Move on.

As tutuzdad-ga said, my comments should not be substituted for
professional advice. It?s just my opinion and nothing more.

After reading your question, the first thing that occurred to me was
the veracity of your son-in-laws story. I simply find it questionable
that a firm would offer double what the applicant requested. There
could certainly be some situations where this occurs, but as a rule,
it?s all but unheard of. Perhaps there are some details that you
didn't include which would explain the doubling of his requested
salary. Or, perhaps you were just using a figure of speech when you
said that they doubled what he had requested.

Notwithstanding that point, your son-in-law may have a cause for
action against the company who lured him away from his previous job.
If he has a signed offer in writing stating the position, job duties
and rate of compensation then I would suggest that you seek legal
advise through an attorney. If his only proof is his word against
theirs, then he may still have a case, but it will likely be much more
difficult to prevail.

If on the other hand, he misrepresented himself to the prospective
employer then that will make his case harder to win; even if he has a
signed offer.

Without additional details it?s hard to offer any other suggestions. 

Best of luck.