Can you really rescind an offer after it has been signed? Wouldn't they have to have terminated the contract instead? (Not that it makes a difference in practice unless there's a mandatory termination period)
So offers for at-will employment can be rescinded, though they do cost an organization - time wasted, restarting candidate search, loss of productivity, etc. Usually not done flippantly at a competent and prudent organization.
Stripe may be neither or it may have had a great reason that made a lot of internal sense. We'll probably never know.
You are an at-will employee, offer can be rescinded or reneged at any time for any reason unless it is specifically a prohibited reason.
Why do you think businesses tend to be benefit the most? There are historically twice as many quits as separations, so workers are twice as likely to use "at will employment" to leave then having the Business use it to fire them. I can't think of any data to support the notion that the bulk of the benefits are not borne by workers, but if you have some, I'd be interested in hearing it.
Since the contract is terminable at will, reliance on it continuing into the future is generally unreasonable, and costs incurred based on such reliance will not generally be recoverable in the event it is terminated sooner than you expected.
Edit: I had to look it up. US is indeed very business friendly..... May be a little too friendly.
For us living, breathing “natural persons”, are you willing to take on what might be a decade-long court battle, just to get a small amount of money or force them to employ you for a certain amount of time?
The incentives here are very disproportionate.