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Comment by sdoering | Hacker News Reader

> [...] the job opening didn't say remote, the agreement they signed didn't say remote.

I don't understand. Do people sign a contract that states something differently than they were being told verbally before?

Imho what isn't in writing doesn't exist. Especially when it comes to "promises" from potential employers.

For example I would not trust a promised raise in 12 months when nothing was done in writing. Even with the best of employers I would not agree to anything if they didn't agree to writing it down.

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> Do people sign a contract that states something differently than they were being told verbally before?

Yes. All the time.

And verbal agreements are valid contracts too, if you can prove they exist (but good luck in that).

Anyway, this particular case looks more like the OP believed on the promises of a 3rd party (the recruiter), so it's not actually a contract.

It would surprise me very much if the written contract didn't have a provision about superseding any previous agreement.

"Entire Agreement" clauses are quite common.

I agree that verbal contracts are valid. But difficult to prove.

That's a pretty hard standard to hold. I've never had a company promise a particular desk to me in writing, but I trust that if they show me their nice office space and verbally tell me that's where I'll be sitting they won't put me on a folding table in the broom closet.

I think you've crossed over into the unnecessarily absurd.

When I got my offer and contract to sign which stated remote work I made damn sure it was in the contract along with compensation, holidays, sick leave etc. If any of these differed from the job advert, interview discussions etc then I'd be bouncing it back to the employer to correct.

These are not "pretty hard standard[s] to hold" a potential employer to.

you are right. if it’s not in writing, don’t accept it.

My contract specifically states that my primary work location is the company office.

If I had applied to a remote position and the contract did not specifically state it's primarily a remote location, I would demand the contract was changed to reflect this before signing.

Surely you can see the difference between things like salary, whether you're expected to commute several hours a week, etc. and whether you're sitting next to a window or not.

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