Offer of employment

The offer of employment can have significant personal and legal implications and must be handled in a careful and appropriate manner. A legally binding contract must be entered into through a proper process, a key element of which is the formal approval of the recommended applicant and the determination of the conditions of employment to be included in the contract.

Legally binding contracts should not be entered into unwittingly with the minimum of formality, eg through a series of telephone calls prior to delegate approval. Even innocent misrepresentation of the terms of contract of employment may allow the party who has been misled to void the contract, and may also be the basis of a claim for damages for negligence, for example, if an applicant resigns from their current position on the basis of the offer.