Life is quite unpredictable. Sometimes, you accept a job offer, but circumstances change within a few hours or days. You may have received another offer, or you don’t want to work anyway. Perhaps something about the company gave you second thoughts. You might have read bad reviews from past employees of the company.
Don’t panic! There’s still room to reject the job offer. You can get rid of the job, but you should be careful. It’s paramount to understand some important aspects before you reject the job offer. Make sure the rejection is not an impulse decision, as you may regret it in the future.
Why People Often Change Their Mind
The majority of jobs across the United States are under at-will employment. The employee and the employer have a right to cancel it based on almost any reason. You might still serve a notice period or meet certain company requirements out of courtesy, but neither side is legally required to stay. The job contract can be terminated at any point as it’s legal.
This principle also applies before your job starts. An offer letter is not an employment contract. Offer letters highlight the important elements, such as name, job title, salary, and the joining date. There is no obligation to accept it.
The Cornell Legal Information Institute explains this doctrine well. Unless otherwise specified in a formal contract, employment is considered to be flexible.
Offer Letter vs. Employment Contract
Are you asking: Can I cancel an offer letter after accepting? Well, it depends on the document you signed. The only way to understand the situation is to read the terms of the document.
Make sure you understand the difference between an offer letter and an employment contract. An offer letter is usually an initial offer and not a definitive contract. By contrast, notice periods, penalties, or non-competes can make it more difficult to withdraw from an employment contract.
An offer letter is more like a proposal. It includes your position, salary, supervisor, and possible reporting date, and it usually doesn’t mention the repercussions if you don’t show up. Spelling out those repercussions is exactly what a formal contract does, and an offer letter usually doesn’t. This gap is the reason that most people can walk away from an accepted offer and suffer no harm.
What If You Had to Take the Job?
Upon acceptance, you and your employer have an informal agreement. They can start your new hire paperwork, order equipment, or introduce you to your new team. That is not to say that you are stuck, but it does mean this carries more weight than simply declining an offer before you ever accepted it.
What Happens If You Back Out
If you back out after you accept, some of the following will happen:
- The company wastes the time invested in hiring you.
- Your manager will have to reopen the search, or move on to another candidate.
- If you don’t get it right, your professional relationship with that company and its network can be damaged.
All of this is not illegal on your end. No one can force you to go work somewhere. Nonetheless, a breach of trust that wasn’t needed is not something that usually works out well down the road, especially in a smaller industry where chatter can occur.
Some candidates are concerned that if an offer is accepted, then they may be blocklisted or sued for breaking the contract. That simply does not occur to an individual employee, almost never. It’s rare that a business would sue a person who chooses not to stay for a position. In most straightforward cases the consequences are reputational rather than legal. Withdrawals in the same industry or city are known to one another, and the attitude to the withdrawal is more important than the withdrawal.
When It Gets More Complicated
There are some situations which make rejection of an accepted offer a little bit more complicated than a simple message.
- You entered into a written contract: If the document contains certain language (a guaranteed start date, relocation reimbursement, a notice, etc.), you might be responsible for a payment if you don’t do so. Don’t take for granted that you’re not obligated to what you signed up for.
- You already resigned from your current job: It’s the most dangerous spot to be. It may leave you without a source of income for some time if you tendered notice on the new offer and the new company doesn’t work out. Some employees have pursued a legal claim called promissory estoppel, where a company can be held partly responsible if you relied on their offer and suffered real financial harm because of it. This is not a guaranteed success and depends on your state; it should be considered as a last resort.
- Moving expenses have been covered: Some moving-in agreements may stipulate a refund if the company pays moving costs in advance or offers a signing bonus, but you do not start, or you do not stay for a minimum amount of time. Be sure to read the terms carefully before you choose.
Are you asking about the possibility of re-using the offer letter? Some candidates ask if they can use one offer letter for different reasons, for example, for an apartment or for a visa application, and for other job applications. That is not the same as turning down the offer. Presenting an altered or fabricated offer letter as genuine, though, can be illegal.
How to Reject the Offer the Right Way
If you are ready to reject an offer that you’ve already accepted, do it correctly to avoid damage to your reputation and to maintain an open option if you run into that employer once more.
- Reach out to the hiring manager directly over the phone or via email and not through a recruiter or a colleague. State the message succinctly and truthfully. There’s no need to go into detail here; simply say you’ve decided to take a different opportunity that is more suited to your goals.
- Let them know right away when you’ve made your decision. Every day that you wait, the company will be able to move on with another candidate, and the sooner you act, the better it is for you.
- Express gratitude for their generosity and time. There is no cost to this, but if you ever apply to that company again or ask for a reference from someone on that team, this matters.
- Be brief in your explanation. You are not required to write a long explanation. An honest and respectful message will be more effective than a long message.
- If you have a contract with fines for breach, look it over before you send anything. Just a quick session with an employment attorney will make sure that you don’t have to deal with the surprise of additional expenses down the road.
Bottom Line
Hope you have got the answer to, “Can you reject an offer letter after accepting?” In almost all normal employment scenarios, yes. Offer letters are not necessarily as binding as formal contracts. What’s important is whether you have signed anything with binding terms, if you have already quit your job, and how you approach your conversation with the employer.
A speedy, direct, and professional approach is the most important thing in walking away cleanly. After you have found the right position, there are a number of tools that can make it easy to maintain your pay records from the start, such as our paystub generator.
