If Iwas offered a job but the hiring firm outsourced to handle my paperwork made a mistake that cost me the job, what should I do?
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If Iwas offered a job but the hiring firm outsourced to handle my paperwork made a mistake that cost me the job, what should I do?
I was recently offered a job with a company; however, this job was contingent on successful completion of a drug screen and physical. I passed both, but the hiring firm the company used to process my results sent the employer the wrong information and i was taken off the new hire list. I cannot reapply until the company holds its next training session which is still several months away. I was wondering if I had any course of action in this matter.
Asked on October 24, 2010 under Employment Labor Law, South Carolina
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 13 years ago | Contributor
It is possible that you may have a cause of action against the hiring firm under one of two theories:
1) Negligence: they voluntarily took on a duty to process your application correctly; they then were unreasonably careless in fulfilling that duty, thereby depriving you of the opportuntity to be hired.
2) Defamation: if they provided negative factual information about you that caused someone to not want to work with you, that could possibly be considered defamation.
In either event, you may be able to recover losses--such as the loss of income for the time you are not hired due to the error. It is worth discussing the situation in detail with an employment law attorney, to see if you do have a cause of action, what it would take to pursue it, and what it might be worth.
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