Dear HR fellows,
I wanted to understand the legal implications involved in the following case:
The HR manager has emailed a job offer and the candidate has accepted via email. He also has put in his papers in his current company, he has mailed the resignation acceptance to the HR manager of the conpany that made the offer. Now, during the reference check , the business manager gets negative feedback and hence wants the HR manager to revoke the offer, days before the candidate is slated to join.
1.What are the legal implications on the HR manager and the company that made the offer in this case?Which all courts of law can this case be legally challenged(labour court, consumer court)?
2.What alternate approaches would you suggest?

From India, Bangalore
May we ask , anything about the negative feedback ? Is it factual report, about the damages caused by the talent , you are trying to hire ? Alternatively, is it a subjective account of the behavioural conduct of the talent ?
Any talent resigning an employer, ruffles too many feathers. Hence, settling score with a negative account during the reference check remains obvious.
Looking forward to hear from you

From India, Mumbai
Hi ,

Back ground verification for the new hires is a very common practice that many of the companies follow. It usual starts with a time slot of verification, starting from offer letter release to reporting or joining or in some companies it may not get finish in the initial 3months. So, Need not bother about wether its his joining day or a day before joining or after joing. And, As per the feed back of Verification, companies will have all the rights to revoke the offer or terminate the agreed employment due to negative Feed back of BV.

Since reference check is a part of Back Ground verification, Do ask the manager to get the negative feed back from the reference person in a document mode and claim the same to revoke the offer. But, ensure that the new hire got same kind of feed back from all other references he mentioned, If not, There may be a possibility of false feed back from the reference person.

So, Its good to get feed back from more than one reference, compare those and take a decision on revoking the offer.Since employers may not be ready to release their talented resources at times, results possibility of providing false feed backs.

From India, Bangalore
Hi,
Its been a trend where Immature HRs or possessive >Seniors out of jealousy give negative feedback. about the resignees.
one really wonders what gain do they get or what high do they get by giving -ve feedbacks, they too are employees at the end of the day. Understandable as employers would have to re-train another resource which would cost him much & then also there is no guarantee for employees to stick around.
.
At the same time new hirers must give room for -ve feedback & not penalize prospects against joining, due to failed reference checks

From India, Gurgaon
I managed the background verification function, for a firm enlisted with Nasscom. We were categorically directed to validate the data required and document shared, by the candidate. Few data, such as fabricating mark sheets or absence of a proper exit, would lead to a negative report. The form required the reporting managers to fill details.
However, we were strictly suppose to consider the factual report and not a subjective statement. Data remained prime, not a global statement. Few organisations might have a different policy to take a wider feedback. Looking forward to hear more from the experts on this .

From India, Mumbai
ukm
23

Dear Friend,
To my mind, the statement ‘Negative Feedback’ is quite vague. I recommend the following:
1. Verification should be from more than one source.
2. If all the references give similar negative feedback, you should take a note of it.
3. If you have only one feed back then, I suggest
a) If the negative feedback is about the skills, or sense of involvement in one’s work (term ‘lack of motivation’ may confuse us) Ignore the observations as skills can be honed and motivation is indicative of poor manager worker relationship/ company’s environment.
b) If the Feedback is about the person’s integrity and behavior, you must take note of it.
Munshi

From India, Delhi
Dear Competency PhD
Specific answers to your queries are as below :
1. As far as legal complications are involved; an offer of employment is just an offer.
Even after acceptance from the other party; it still remains an "offer".
By that it is implied that it is different from a "contract" or an "ägreement" under Law.
A party can withdraw it at anytime without creating any legal encumbrance upon itself.
Though it is not common; and good companies would never do it; the fact remains that they can not be legally forced to honour their "offer"; nor can be asked to compensate any expenses or hardship that the other party undergoes owing to it.
2.For any alternatives; please try the approaches as others have suggested.
Warm regards.

From India, Delhi
An 'Offer Letter', in my opinion, carries no weight till it is followed by an 'Appointment Letter'. If in the intervening period, there is a negative feed back, during the verification process, the 'Appointment Letter' may never be issued. Therefore, for a candidate to resign his/ her existing job before getting an Appointment Letter is a risky proposition.
Even after an 'Appointment Letter' is issued, termination of appointment stands valid if the feed back through a registered verification agency reflects on candidate's integrity & morality (such as submitting forged documents, hiding some facts about past employment, being an accused in a court of law etc...).
And you can't claim to be an employee till you have joined an organization.

From India, Delhi
Thankyou for making the conditions to a negative feedback, so clear.
Here's an article contributed by Mr.Sachin Aggarwal , who manages a background verification firm. Printing Mistakes
Reference Check

From India, Mumbai
I believe it is necessary to examine the terms of your contract e.g does your offer letter say that the employment is based on receipt of favourable character check results? If this is the case, then the contract can be revoked without any legal implication. Also as has been mentioned by other contributors, it is pertinent to verify the anthenticity of the reference check.
All the best.
Blessing A

From Nigeria, Lagos
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