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Comment by jedberg | Hacker News Reader

If he wanted to, he could probably sue Tesla for tortious interference of his previous job, since he gave notice at the previous job because of them.

Also, it really sucks that Tesla didn't offer him severance given that he was effectively laid off. Hopefully he can at least get unemployment.

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I mean anybody can sue anybody for anything, but to win damages you'd have to prove that either Tesla intended to mess up his previous job or that they were negligent (based on a legal duty of care). IANAL, but this seems unlikely.

Exactly. At most you can claim damages if you signed a lease or something explicitly for the new job, but beyond that you are out of luck.

If you ask for a start date, then cancel your offer are you not willfully doing damage? You're just saying, that damage doesn't mean that much to me. I'm guessing willful and intent are legal definitions though.

It's sad that to address his issue he probably has to burn down any and all opportunity with Tesla.

Given his public posting, I suspect he is not too worried about future opportunities at Tesla.

Given how they've treated him I wouldn't be particularly worried either.

It's sad, but I think the bridge was burned when Tesla rescinded the offer. Tesla could have just as well had Charlie start on a different team, but that's not what happened.

Another possibility is that he regains his old job. I've seen that happen recently - guy left our org for a hotshot startup in a different domain, politics happened and his position was essentially rendered unviable. He rejoined our group and didn't lose status or reputation for his 1 month stint.

At least this guy didn't get hired before that happened. IMHO he's dodged a bullet. If he was good with his old place they'd probably be good to hire him back.

I've been at a couple jobs where that happens. Its not as bad as others think. Its a little awkward for the person at first, but everybody moves on pretty quick.

He would lose 99.999% of the time thanks to `at will` employment.

It's part of an implied contract however. Unless you know of some court cases where people lost because of it.

An implied contract that can be terminated at any time with or without cause

At-will employment doesn’t really factor in here.

The central issue is that Tesla gave him a job offer and based on that offer he resigned from his prior job. Tesla then reneged on their offer weeks later. The damages are the lost wages due to them not following through with the job offer after they caused him to resign.

I suppose the point is that's there's little difference, practically speaking, between this situation and being fired 5 minutes into your first day on the job.

I’d agree. You’d likely want to consult an attorney in that case as well, because barring some pretty extraordinary circumstances being fired 5 minutes into a job suggests the company didn’t actually employ you in good faith.

It’s relevant that tortious interference isn’t specific to employment, and thus isn’t really impacted by at-will employment. A company can legally rescind a job offer, or fire you 5 minutes onto the job. The civil claim isn’t that they can’t fire you, it’s that their employment contract was done in bad faith, and that they owe you for losses you incurred as a result of being a good faith actor who entered a contract with a company acting in bad faith.

I don't think that's really how job offers and at-will employment work. An employer can terminate an employee at any time (even before they've started) as long as the cause for termination is not illegal. "Employment contracts" are contracts, and a stipulation of that contract is the at-will nature of the employment.

You have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. Good lawyers usually give free consultations, especially the ones that see nothing but huge payouts for taking cases like this.

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