Job Offer Can Be Rescinded Without Obligation
Q: While operations were winding down at an office that was to close soon because of a merger, I interviewed for a position with a prospective employer. The position was open because the manager was leaving to go into business with his family.
After interviewing with the local manager and flying to Minnesota at my own expense to interview with the company president, I accepted the offer.
Two weeks later, when I called the president to confirm my starting date, I was told the manager who was supposed to be leaving had changed his mind and was going to stay.
Doesn’t the fact that I was offered and accepted the position obligate the employer in any way?
--D.B., Fountain Valley
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A: Unless you received an offer of employment for a specific term, such as one year, you do not have much recourse.
In California, unless there is a specific agreement to the contrary, employees are presumed to be hired “at will.” This means that the employment relationship may be terminated at any time for any reason.
Just as you could have accepted the offer of a new job and then changed your mind later without incurring liability to the employer, the employer also can change its mind.
There are a few limitations to this rule, although they do not seem to apply to your situation.
An employer is liable if it fraudulently induces an employee to leave a job by promising a job that really does not exist. But in your situation the job opening actually existed at the time the offer was made.
An employer might also be liable for “promissory estoppel” if an employee leaves a job to take a job offer that does not materialize. But because your existing job was ending anyway, this would not seem to apply to you.
--James J. McDonald Jr.
Attorney, Fisher & Phillips
Labor law instructor, UC Irvine
Looks as if Lipstick Rule Won’t Wash Q: I work at a bank. One of our managers is requiring that all women wear lipstick at work. Is this legal?
--S.L., Glendale
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A: Although state and federal laws afford employers a great deal of discretion in enacting grooming and appearance rules, your employer’s lipstick rule is probably illegal.
Both the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (the state antidiscrimination statute) and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (the federal antidiscrimination statute) forbid special appearance rules imposed on members of only one sex.
If you cannot resolve this issue informally with your employer, you may wish to contact either the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing or the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and explain your situation.
Their staffs will assist you in analyzing your options, and it also could require your employer to change its rule.
--Diane J. Crumpacker
Management law attorney
Fried, Bird & Crumpacker
Some Truck Drivers Won’t Get Overtime Q: I am a truck driver for a company that grows and delivers sod. I often work 14-hour days, and occasionally even longer ones.
The company pays us overtime at time-and-a-half for any day over 10 hours. At no point do we receive double time.
We have been told that this is a management decision. The company says it is not required to pay any overtime because there are exemptions to overtime laws for agriculture and truck drivers.
Even if there are such exemptions, I can’t believe my job would be considered “agricultural,” since I’m loading the product and delivering it to the consumer. And I am not aware of any overtime exemption for truck drivers.
--G.E., Ventura
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It is difficult to answer without knowing more facts.
Many truck drivers are indeed exempt from all overtime requirements.
For example, drivers of tractor-trailer rigs or of trucks with more than two axles are exempt from state overtime requirements, as are drivers of larger two-axle trucks. Drivers who load agricultural products (including sod) at a farm and take it directly to its first point of delivery or processing are also exempt. Drivers whose hours are regulated by the U.S. Department of Transportation and who work for employers engaged in interstate commerce are exempt from both state and federal overtime laws.
On the other hand, drivers of two-axle trucks less than 40 feet long that operate within California are frequently entitled to overtime. And many union contracts in the transportation industry require that drivers of every kind of truck receive overtime for work beyond eight hours in a day or 40 hours in a week.
To learn about your legal rights, you should consult your union agent (if you are represented) or an employment attorney.
--Joseph L. Paller Jr.
Union, employee attorney
Gilbert & Sackman
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If you have a question about an on-the-job situation, please mail it to Shop Talk, Los Angeles Times, P.O. Box 2008, Costa Mesa, CA 92626; dictate it to (714) 966-7873, or e-mail it to shoptalk@latimes.com. Include your initials and hometown. The Shop Talk column is designed to answer questions of general interest. It should not be construed as legal advice.
