Breach Of Contract

[jon feaver]

I was due to start working for a company in Koh Samui in the middle of September as Director of Operations.I had a verbal contract as well as nine different emails ,where the owner confirmed my position,start date,wage,etc.

He wrote to me about once every ten days confirming this and I still have all the emails and dates he wrote to me.

I now need to know what I can do about this,can I sue for breach of contract,as they have told me from April that my start date would be in September and I have turned down other positions for this position.Are there any lawyers that could give me information about this and are there any no cure no pay lawyers in Bangkok.

What would be my chances, what could I expect as compension .

Any ideas ,advice or addresses of any laywer that may help me with this would be great.

Thank you

[LivinLOS]

I would say absolutely zilch.. No contract signed, no binding agreement, hel_l they could fire you after the first 5 mins and be within thier rights no ??

[britmaveric]

s.o.l. mate.

[britmaveric]

find a new position, nothing is owed to you since you weren't employed officially.

[Prakanong]

I was due to start working for a company ((name removed)) in Koh Samui in the middle of September as Director of Operations.I had a verbal contract as well as nine different emails ,where the owner confirmed my position,start date,wage,etc.

He wrote to me about once every ten days confirming this and I still have all the emails and dates he wrote to me.

Now 14 days before i was due to start employment with them,the GM had told me the position has been given to an other person.

I now need to know what I can do about this,can I sue for breach of contract,as they have told me from April that my start date would be in September and I have turned down other positions for this position.Are there any lawyers that could give me information about this and are there any no cure no pay lawyers in Bangkok.

What would be my chances, what could I expect as compension .

Any ideas ,advice or addresses of any lawyer that may help me with this would be great.

Thank you

I think you just have to chalk this one up to a bad experience and swallow it - not much chance of getting anything.

Director of Operations - what does that mean? I once had a pal claiming that role for a small African Airline it was mickey mouse. I report to a Regional Op's Manager - she probably get a multiple of 10 what my pal got.

Be careful of job titles in Asia

Did yopu have a f2f interview - did they fly you over?

How many people interviewed you - did they screen you professionally

Any decent job in Asia its all done.

[technocracy]

You didn't actually recieve and sign a contract so how can you sue for Breach of Contract?

Nothing is in concrete until you receive a contract.

I am currently await for a contract from a company who have verbally offered me the work but I won't do anything until I recieve the full written contract.

Just because they make a verbal offer doesn't mean it's legally binding.

Edit: Re-Read op - you were made an offer in APRIL(!) and it is now SEPTEMBER and you have waited on them for nearly 6 months for a written contract!!! You'll learn from this but once they make a verbal offer ensure a written and legally binding contract is issued asap if not they are pulling your chain. The rule is don't turn anyone down while you don't have a contract in hand.

Edited September 4, 2007 by technocracy

[andy1308]

I've spoken to my girlfriend (a trained lawyer) about this, and she said that even an email offer from an authorised signatory of the company is not considered to be a legally binding contract in Thailand. It needs to be in writing and physically signed by both parties.

You might want to get a second opinion about this, but she does deal with business contracts on a daily basis so I'm afraid it doesn't look good. Sorry - and I hope things work out.

[Khun ?]

do you have a letter of intent ( offer letter which is common for overseas work) signed by them.

[lazeeboy]

You didn't actually recieve and sign a contract so how can you sue for Breach of Contract?

Nothing is in concrete until you receive a contract.

I am currently await for a contract from a company who have verbally offered me the work but I won't do anything until I recieve the full written contract.

Just because they make a verbal offer doesn't mean it's legally binding.

Edit: Re-Read op - you were made an offer in APRIL(!) and it is now SEPTEMBER and you have waited on them for nearly 6 months for a written contract!!! You'll learn from this but once they make a verbal offer ensure a written and legally binding contract is issued asap if not they are pulling your chain. The rule is don't turn anyone down while you don't have a contract in hand.

verbal and emails are worthless ,unless its signed by the gm forget it..........

[H2oDunc]

Mrs H2o is a lawyer and she says the same. I see youv'e posted the same thing on a lot of different forums. Your'e bound to be pissed. They will all tell you the same. Waiting all this time without a written, signed offer of work? Put it down to experience and get on with finding work and enjoying life. Its too short as it is.

[Prakanong]

I've spoken to my girlfriend (a trained lawyer) about this, and she said that even an email offer from an authorised signatory of the company is not considered to be a legally binding contract in Thailand. It needs to be in writing and physically signed by both parties.

You might want to get a second opinion about this, but she does deal with business contracts on a daily basis so I'm afraid it doesn't look good. Sorry - and I hope things work out.

I did not know about emails and legality in Thailand.

Our staff there will be told by regional legal though that anything they put in emails can turn around and bite them on their arse.

We all have to go to compulsory legal clinics given by our legal dept about what and what not to put into emails - our emails do have supra-national implications though and are not restricted to one country ie Thailand

[technocracy]

You didn't actually recieve and sign a contract so how can you sue for Breach of Contract?

Nothing is in concrete until you receive a contract.

I am currently await for a contract from a company who have verbally offered me the work but I won't do anything until I recieve the full written contract.

Just because they make a verbal offer doesn't mean it's legally binding.

Edit: Re-Read op - you were made an offer in APRIL(!) and it is now SEPTEMBER and you have waited on them for nearly 6 months for a written contract!!! You'll learn from this but once they make a verbal offer ensure a written and legally binding contract is issued asap if not they are pulling your chain. The rule is don't turn anyone down while you don't have a contract in hand.

verbal and emails are worthless ,unless its signed by the gm forget it..........

Erm I know that what I said in my post .. . did you mean reply to me?

[Solosiam]

Why on Earth would you want to sue them?

Even in the UK it would be just about impossible to do this for the reasons you have stated, why are you wasting time on it - go back to some of the other companies and explain the situation.

There could be hundreds of legitamite reasons for not following through with employment, from economic downturn, to the job simply not being there anymore - they don't owe you anything.

[mr_hippo]

A verbal contract is not worth the paper it is printed on

[andy1308]

A verbal contract is not worth the paper it is printed on

... and the same goes for anything offered in an email. It's worthless here in Thailand. Everything has to be written and signed on old-fashioned paper.

[ProThaiExpat]

Risking an accusation, the last time I posted a legality I received a post, that my comment was legal flatulence, I offer the following:

Any responsible business entity that has substantial assets is a target for litigation. Corporate counsel constantly preach to staff to limit their liability in many ways, including the making of promises via any means, oral, e-mail or otherwise.

There are legally enforceable oral contracts but OP doesn't state he officially accepted the "offers" he received.

The legal principal involved in OPs case, at best, is "detrimental reliance". If OP could prove by a preponderance of evidence that he was offered a job upon which he relied reasonably to his detriment, he would have an action for the damages he suffered.

There are many weasel words that apply. The first one: was the offer a legitimate one upon which reasonable people would rely. Already, by the posts made in this thread, many felt no legitimate or legally enforceable offer was made.

Is it not the custom and practice in the business community that all offers for employment in order to be binding must be in writing and accepted in writing? If such be the case, OP is out of luck, as so many have posted, as no "reasonable man" would rely on an e-mail offer and reasonably act thereon to his detriment.

There is another legal principle of contract law that applies which many jurisdictions apply and that is that the "job offer', is not in fact an offer of employment, but merely a form of "advertised offer" that is the principle when a store offers merchandise for sale. The courts in many countries hold that this form of offer" is merely an "invitation" to offer, and that the customer must show up and be willing to pay the price before the customer makes the offer and the vendor is free to accept the customers offer to buy or not. Such is the case with selling your home. Showing up an agreeing to pay the advertised price for the home will not get you the home unless the owner "accepts the buyers offer to buy"

Thus it can be argued that that what OP got via email and verbally were merely advertisements of the job and invitations for OP to offer to take the job and at that point the company in question could hire him or not at their discretion.

As one poster noted, an employment contract is normally a contract "at will" terminable at any time by either party, so even if OP showed up to work, he could be terminated then and what would his damages be. The plane trip, assuming he was acting reasonably and flying to their location when his only contract was oral or e-mail.

Yes, one can contract in writing for stated periods of time and that form of employment is not "at will".

.

[andy1308]

I've thought more about the situation the OP finds himself in. I actually had my original job offer by email while in the UK, but I also needed a formal letter from the company to obtain my Non-B visa. That letter was/is considered a legally binding contract. If the OP had that for his visa requirements (if any) then he might have something to fight with.

[Cyberstar]

A verbal contract is not worth the paper it is printed on

... and the same goes for anything offered in an email. It's worthless here in Thailand. Everything has to be written and signed on old-fashioned paper.

... and stamped with the company seal.