If I was discharged after 1 week of employment but I moved over 700 miles and spent over $2000 to relocate for this position, what recourse do I have?
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If I was discharged after 1 week of employment but I moved over 700 miles and spent over $2000 to relocate for this position, what recourse do I have?
I had a 13 week contract to provide pharmacy services as a hospital to cover an employee’s FMLA. I had only a contract with my agency whom contracted with the employer. I was released from my contract for unspecified/subjective reasons. I was never written up and this occurred after the first week of the 3 week training period. In addition, I had been in touch with this employer several times to arrange start dates.
Asked on February 15, 2016 under Employment Labor Law, Georgia
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 8 years ago | Contributor
You state that you had a 13-week contract. If you had a contract for a definite time, then you could typically not be terminated during that period except for "good cause" (e.g. insubordination, theft, absenteeism, etc.). Furthermore, you reasonably relied to your detriment on the promise of 13 weeks employment--the key elements of "promissory estoppel" (another legal basis for enforcing an agreement or promise) appear to be present in this case: a promise was made to you to induce you to do something detrimental (e.g. relocate), upon which promise you reasonably relied. Therefore, in this case, you may have a claim for the additional 12 weeks of pay based on either or both of breach of contract or promissory estoppel.
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