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With a new job in hand, Lyn Whitham was thrilled to be climbing yet another rung up her career ladder.

Armed with a contract, she says she was all set to begin the position a couple of weeks ago as chief marketing officer for ING Bank of Canada -- a senior management job with an annual salary of $180,000 and the potential, she says, to push that to as much as $300,000 with stock options and bonuses.

So she says she was stunned when she received a phone call at her Toronto home from an ING official just two weeks before she was to start, telling her that the offer and her contract had been "revoked."

It was followed up four days later by a registered letter from Johanne Brossard, ING's president and chief executive officer. The terse letter, without even an apology, repeated the explanation that an "internal candidate" would be filling the position instead.

"Devastating would be stating it lightly," says Ms. Whitham, 52, of her reaction to the job-offer reversal just two weeks after she had resigned from a similar-paying position as vice-president of marketing at the head office of Foresters, the financial arm of the Toronto-based Independent Order of Foresters.

"I couldn't believe it. I had gone through two months of interviews and had a signed contract," Ms. Whitham says.

How was it possible that she could be dismissed from a job before she even started work -- and with a contract in hand?

ING would not comment. "It is an internal matter and we have a policy of not commenting on internal employment issues," says Andrew Ross, a spokesman for the chartered bank that operates under the name ING Direct.

Ms. Whitham's case is hardly unique. Having a job offer rescinded, even with a contract completed, happens more often than you'd think, warns Howard Levitt, an employment lawyer with Lang Michener LLP in Toronto.

"It's not at all uncommon that someone who has been hired is told that they can't have the job," he says. There is even a name for it: anticipatory breach of contract, meaning being fired in anticipation of actually starting employment, he explains.

So why isn't it better known? Simply because 99 per cent of such cases are settled out of court, Mr. Levitt says.

"Employers just want to avoid litigious activity. What you'll find is that they just throw money at these incidents to keep them out of court," and avoid the publicity, says Helen Jowett, chief executive officer of McDonald-Green Human Resources Consultants in Kitchener, Ont., which advises companies on employment issues.

And, she adds, "companies know most of the time in human-resources law cases, the courts tend to side with the employee."

While there is no measure in Canada of the extent of job offers being taken back, 4 per cent of 1,900 U.S. corporate and government organizations surveyed rescinded employment offers in the wake of the economic downturn of 2001 and the subsequent merging of technology companies, according to a study by the U.S. National Association of Colleges and Employers.

The experts say, however, that it can happen in any organization. Some offers are being revoked as a result of the growing number of background checks being done more regularly by employers in the wake of recent corporate scandals, Ms. Jowett says. In cases of misrepresentation or fraud, companies can cancel job offers without compensation, Mr. Levitt adds.

But it is also growing increasingly common to see job offers reversed for little more than a change of corporate plan or internal politics, Mr. Levitt says.

"There are a hundred reasons it happens," he notes, among them:

Someone who was offered and refused the position earlier turns around and decides to take it.

Someone within the company persuades the boss that he or she should have the job instead.

Somebody with higher authority, for budgetary or other reasons, puts the kibosh on the position after it has been offered .

Someone with influence in the decision says that he or she can't work with the newly hired employee.

Mergers or restructuring alter companies plans' for growth and create redundancies.

Whatever the reason for such a revocation, not only is there an emotional blow for those who find themselves in such a situation, the sudden lack of income security can also create a financial crisis.

And there can be serious damage to the reputation of someone who finds an offer revoked "because of questions future employers may have about what happened to cause the employer to take away their offer," says William Gale, a partner in the employment law firm Grosman Grosman and Gale LLP in Toronto, who is representing Ms. Whitham.

So how do you protect yourself against losing a job before you even start it?

Most important is to have all the key points of the agreement in written form in a contract or letter signed by everyone involved in the job offer, Mr. Gale says.

The vast majority of employment offers are still made orally, and it is one person's word against another's about the terms of the agreement if there is a dispute, and nothing in writing, Mr. Gale explains.

He says that employment contracts should include a termination clause specifying what happens if a company breaches terms of an offer. "It's like a prenuptial agreement that lays out what the final payment is going to be if there is a breakup," Mr. Gale says.

However, Mr. Levitt cautions not to be too specific about what you expect if the job offer is revoked. "The employer will likely assume that they have some dark secret they are afraid will unravel before they even start," he says

But if a promised job is yanked, an employee should not sign any release until obtaining legal advice, Mr. Levitt recommends. "Companies believe that someone who has not started work has no right to sue. But that is not true," he says. "In fact, a person who is leaving a great previous position may be losing the benefits of years of service. There is no reason a court would treat them any differently than someone who had been an employee for 20 years," even if the person never officially made it to the payroll.

Indeed, someone who loses a job before starting may be in a better position to demand compensation than someone who has actually started work, Mr. Levitt notes.

Provincial employment acts across the country say that employers can terminate employees with no severance during a 90-day probationary period after they start a job. However, anticipatory breach is not covered by employment law.

Typically, settlements range from six months' to a year's salary but, for more senior positions, could go much higher, Mr. Levitt says. "There's no reason that the sky isn't the limit" for severance.

Experts also say it's important to leave your previous employer on good terms so that, should you find yourself on the receiving end of a rescinded offer, you may be able to return to the old employer, or at least get a glowing recommendation and assistance about other industry openings.

Meanwhile, Ms. Whitham and her lawyer are in the midst of negotiating a settlement with ING but that doesn't help the situation she now finds herself in. She was, for instance, the bigger bread winner in her household.

"It's shattering for a family to go through this," says the mother of a 10-year-old daughter, who, after receiving the news, asked to stay on at Foresters but was told the company could not rehire her.

She says she hopes to arrange a settlement quickly but it's small consolation for the position in which she finds herself.

"People may think a settlement would be like winning the lottery, but you pay for it many times over in terms of mental distress and actual effort you need to recover from it."

Protect yourself

Here are tips from the experts to protect yourself against revocation of a job offer:

In the interview process, make full disclosure of any job-related issues, such as disciplinary actions or legal convictions. Don't embellish your work history.

Spell it out. Get all the details of the offer, including starting date, salary and objectives or performance expectations in a written contract signed by everyone with authority over your employment offer.

Put everything in writing. Don't depend on oral assurances and promises. If anything is not clear, ask for clarification in a letter.

Include a golden parachute. Get a clause that says if the company fails to meet the terms of the offer, you will get a severance based on a portion of your promised salary.

But don't get too specific. A clause specifying compensation for failure to hire may make an employer assume some dark secret.

Get what's promised. If the offer includes a signing bonus, put in a clause that you get it on signing, even if the hiring is later revoked.

Keep meticulous files and notes. This is important to back up a claim and to help you work through the initial emotional distress.

Don't sign any release until obtaining legal advice. You might be surprised by how much you are entitled to in negotiation.

Don't burn your bridges. Leave your former employer on good terms and keep in touch. If they can't rehire you they may be able to help you identify openings in the industry.

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