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A friend of mine was actively looking for job recently and just few days ago, he told me he finally got an offer. And he has signed the offer letter.
I was happy for him but few days later, he told me he got another job offer which is much better in terms of pay, benefits and prospects.
And he started to worry because he has signed the offer letter. Can he still join the new company? Fortunately for him, the notice period for his new job (under probation) is 24 hours. What if it’s 1 month? I’m sure some of you might have encountered such situation before.
I’ve talked to few of my recruiter friends and even my HR who is a good friend of mine. They said that the new employee can choose not to turn up at all even after signing the offer letter. They have experienced many incidents such as this. The company does have the rights to file a lawsuit against this new employee since he or she has already signed the offer letter.
However, most companies will not pursue this. They will not spend time and money to sue one person which don’t turn up for first day of work. Furthermore, involving in a little lawsuit with a new employee who failed to turn up, is just a petty issue. It might actually ruin the company’s reputation.
I must admit though that I cannot guarantee all companies will behave like this. Maybe there are some companies which will pursue this case though I yet to know any.
That’s why the best solution which I can think of is to call the company up and explains. If your the HR of the second company knows, maybe you can ask them for advice. If they don’t, just call the first company and explain. If things don’t go well, you can either let the second company knows (and hoping they will help you) or you will just have to let it go and turn up for work in the first company.
Unless you are willing to take the risk of not turning up without informing.
But either way, you will most probably get blacklisted by the first company for at least a few years (either you resign within 24 hours or not turn up at all). Companies don’t tend to blacklist a new employee forever for something such as this. They will not be bothered too much with it, not for that long anyway.
To summarize everything:
- You signed offer letter from company A.
- You get a better offer from company B and decided to join.
- You should call company A to explain. If they are okay, good.
- If they are not okay, call company B’s HR and inform them. See if they can help you. This is the last resort.
- If company B refuses to advise or help and company A refuses to back off, you have to let go of company B.
- All the above don’t apply if you are willing to risk it and don’t turn up for company A. Just be prepared to face the consequences of being in a lawsuit (though the probability is very very very low, it is still a risk).
That’s why I always tell people not to sign the offer letter until the very last minute. However, things don’t always go the way we want it to.
And at the end of the day, the question will be, are you willing to take the risk? Is the new offer good enough for you to take the risk?
Hope it helps.
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A letter of offer is not the same as a contract for employment. In most countries it illegal to tie someone to the terms of employment without having them sign the actual contract. Maybe that’s the real reason why companies don’t bother to pursue no-shows.
This offer of employment letter is actually for the good of an employee in transition. Without it, one is not supposed to resign from current employment. Thus this document should not be treated casually by the employee. In the event of a no-show, the damage to the company doing the hiring is only minimal at worst. But it’s better for the employee to settle the issue amicably with the company if he turns down an offer after signing it. Normally this is easily settled because most companies allow you to report for work with the signed letter at the same time. So, if you turn it down, all you need to do is give them a call to decline the offer. For courtesy’s sake, never leave the HR person waiting in vain for you to show up…
Actually, rejecting an offer letter that already signed is very very bad. Especially not turn up on the first day. If you’re unfortunate, the employer might tell other company to boycott you. Scary.
Horizons last blog post..Know Your Investment – Part 1
@ Damien
I think in Malaysia, we’ll get an offer letter to sign and that will be our employment contract (with all the clauses, benefits, bla bla bla). As far as I can remember, there’s only 1 which we need to sign. The rest of the doc are quite standard and will only be given to you on your first day. Those don’t require any signature.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but that’s what I can remember.
@ LC Teh
As for the small companies with petty bosses, one wonders what will they do if someone really reject their offer letter for a role which they are very desperate to fill.
That’s why big companies won’t really go after you if you call them up nicely and tell them you have another offer. Even if you don’t show up without informing them, they won’t go after you but it’ll be quite bad for you. The HR people might remember you.
@ Horizon
I think companies will not be bothered to do that if they’re big. Just too much effort to spend on a small ant.
This is where the tough decision arise… but it usually happen. Anyway, have to handle with care otherwise you will lose two offers.
TZs last blog post..Nite out @ Hard Rock Cafe
@ TZ
Don’t burn the bridges if you can.
Yeap. Handle with care and handle with utmost politeness.
I agree with your approach.It is always better to call the company and explain. Generally it is advisable not to turn down the offer once you signed it. It doesn’t show your professionalism.
Having said so, I rejected one signed offer before when I just graduated. That company “bond” me for 1 year before even I start working. What a crap? But at the same time, I also get another offer.
ChampDogs last blog post..Be Careful When You Resign
@ ChampDog
Sometimes, the other offer is too good to turn down and sometimes, good offers tend to come in later than the not-so-good ones since they’re not THAT desperate. Just make sure you don’t go begging for job with the first company next time. hahaha.
But I think, if you explain properly and nicely, they won’t mind that much.
Just be professional.
My first job also tied me for 6 months. LOL. And 2k pay, without EPF, and they can sack me within 2 weeks.
Well, this is exactly my situation.
Company A – small company
Company B – big company
I signed with ‘A’ already and I got offer with ‘B’ after that. Told company ‘A’ I won’t be joining them, wrote a letter but they got really angry and do not accept it. They want to pursue with lawsuit against me if i did not join on 1st of March 2009.
I actually checked with a couple of lawyers and they confirmed according to the offer, there is nothing legally wrong with my action but it still worries me.
Your explanation seems like this company A will sure win a legal suit against me.
@ Worry4nothing
Are you sure those lawyers are saying the truth? The thing is in Malaysia, most employers wouldn’t care the least but a signed offer letter is indeed a signed offer letter, with black n white proof.
If the company decided to take legal action against you, I’m afraid you are on the losing end but then again, I’m not a lawyer.
Well you can always join them for 1 day and resign on the first day, and tell the new employer that you have to delay joining them by 1 or 2 weeks. Most notice period during probation is 2 weeks.
Hi Alvin, thanks for the advice.
I already made my choice more than a month ago, and sufficiently informed company A regarding my intention not to join them. What you advice is logic as well as the lawyers advice. Plus, those lawyers already read my offer letter and they confirmed that as long as I informed ‘A’ and not coming on the 1st day, there is no loss to the company. Thus, no legal action.
I chose to proceed to company B as I already informed company A sufficiently, but the risk is still there. I’m preparing myself for any legal action now and willing to fight until the end for my rights.
As I am quite sure there is a lot of people like me out there, I’ll update this post from time to time on any legal proceedings that I may face in order to inform Malaysians what to expect in this kind of situation.
Wish me luck!
@ Worry4nothing
I really doubt that company will take action on you and by saying they will, they are actually making a bad name for themselves. Also, it’ll be more expensive for them to take legal action 
No worries.
All the best
and do feel free to use this area to update your situation. That will be able to help a lot of people in similar situations 
It’s kind of confusing; my company have offer letter for every new company to sign, after that the real agreement between employee-employer called the appointment letter. It is necessary and why not just either one of them is enough?
Sorry i meant every “new employee”…
@ Remus
Yes, that is normally the case because you cannot tie a person down with just offer letter. When the person starts work only it can be considered official – thus the employment letter. It’s different.
So legally speaking, the person can actually reject a signed copy of offer letter but not a signed copy of employment letter. UNLESS, the offer letter itself states certain things about turning down the offer will result in legal issue, bla bla bla.
Otherwise, it’s safe to reject offer letter. Just be prepared for the blacklist and tonnes of scolding/threats.
Hi All,
I’ve been meaning to update my case for a while now. Sorry for the late info. You can refer to my previous posts for the whole story.
Company ‘A’ proceed with sending me a ‘letter of demand’ from their lawyer. They demand me to pay a certain amount according to their offer letter plus the legal fees. Please note that it is a letter of demand, not legal action or ’saman’ as we call it here in Malaysia.
It contains all the lawyer threats that say you can even be bankrupt! Seriously, bankrupt because you do not want to work? 
Letter of demand must be reply to the lawyer in order to clarify anything with them. You can either reply it yourself or assign a lawyer to represent you and reply it on your behalf. I chose to assign a lawyer. They reply on my behalf by clarifying the things in ‘letter of demand’ (LOD). DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT clarify anything not in the LOD. It will make things worse. It’s been a while now and still no reply back from their lawyer.
Best case scenario, the company A just let go. Not so best, they proceed with legal action. According to all the lawyers i’ve met (Govt and Pvt), this will go to Industrial court. If this is the case, I have 2 choices. 1. Proceed with the current lawyer but it will cost a lot. 2. Go to Labour Department and get a lawyer, for free. Never the less, if the not so best scenario comes, i’ll choose option 2.
I’ve prepared my documents (offer letter, LOD, my reply letter, etc) and all the lawyers I’ve met already read them and they say, the company actually do not have a case. LOD is standard operating procedure.
The key is, as long as in the offer letter do not say you need to pay if you do not want to come before the start date, there is nothing you need to worry about. As long you do not report on the first day, there is no liability to the company. Unless the company can proof that by not joining them, they actually making a loss, there is no case to demand a payment. Even if they do, it is not your problem.
The conclusion is, the Law is on our side. The contract/offer letter must be fair to both parties. Just make sure you can get all the legal needs you can because, this is a legal issue. Labour Department, Damansara is the place to be to clarify your issues. They give consultation and legal help for free.
I’ll update when there is something to update. If not, just take this as the Best case scenario.
@ Worry4nothing?
Whoa, thanks for the tips. They certainly help a lot of us here. Actually, I’ve told some people before that as long as there’s no black n white, they have nothing to fear. But I would advise them to give a call, just to be nice and avoid being blacklisted for too long.
Anyway, really thank you for sharing your valuable experience with us here.
One question though, I thought the legal department only helps people in lower income group?