I am a graduate student at the University of Miami and have taught film at a summer camp for kids for two years. In February, was offered the same position this summer via email from the managing director of camp. I accepted. I have the emails. My wife, who is on the faculty, was offered and accepted the job of camp artistic director before I received my offer. Yesterday I was informed that they now could not hire me because of a policy the University has against hiring spouses in positions that are subordinate to one another. This only applies to staff positions not faculty. He admitted in the email he had made a mistake and shouldn't have offered me the job - only Human Resources can do that. This is two months after my offer - I have not booked any work in that time frame so now I am out the money. He and the University claim the offer is invalid because he did not have the authority to hire, although that is exactly how the offers for camp have been made for at least five years. Does his offer and my acceptance constitute a legally binding agreement? Or can the University simply say our policy nullifies his offer - even though in every aspect of camp he has authority to make and has made all final decisions. The financial impact on me will be severe as I have kept this time open and now have little chance to book that time period.
Answer
There is a provision of the law called "promissory estoppel". There is also something called "detrimental reliance." You relied, to your detriment, on their promise of employment. Therefore, although it may not be a contract, the law may regard it as a quasi-contract. Also, the fact that the camp director did not have authority to offer you the job is their problem, not yours. There is what the law regards as apparent authority. Even if he did not have actual authority, he held himself out to the world as having the authority, and no one told you different. Therefore, you were perfectly within your rights to rely on his promise of employment as a binding offer.
I think you may have some options. If you would like to talk further, please contact me at your convenience. You can e-mail me at [email protected]/* */ Or call my office at 813-374-2216.
Good luck.
