Signed the Appointment Letter ; Wants to Back out

[C3PO]

Hi,


Can anyone advise if someone signed an appointment letter with sections
such as below

TERMINATION OF SERVICE :
1. During before or after the probationary period, either party may terminate the contract by giving four (4) week's notice or the equivalent of four (4) week's salary in lieu of notice.

In one of the sections also of the appointment letter, one of the section is written as

ACCEPTANCE AGREEMENT

I, _______ NRIC no._____ accept the offer by COMPANY XXX as a POSITION OFFERED, agrees to the terms and conditions contained in this
letter as constituting my Contract of Service with COMPANY XXX.

_______________
Sign and Date

Questions
1. By signing the appointment letter, is the letter considered the EMPLOYMENT CONTRACT as well? Even though the letter is titled "APPOINTMENT LETTER" and sections contained in it contained the wording
"as constituting my Contract of Service with COMPANY XXX."

2. If the signee did not appear on the start date(for whatever reasons, personal it may be), is he/she considered to have broken the Contract of Service?, if question 1 above is valid. And if yes, is it governed by Singapore Law of Contracts?

3. If so doing as per question 2, the signee found a better employment offer or has been offered a better offer, by telling the COMPANY XXX where he signed the appointment letter that the reason for backing out is he/she found a better offer, Is he considered liable as violating
the "appointment letter or contract of service"?


Hope anyone can help?[/b]

[sundaymorningstaple]

If you signed the letter in good faith, then the answer to all your questions is YES.

In Singapore, you do not even need a contract if your terms of employment are the same as others in the company (aside from the salary quoted) as it can be constued as company sop. At worst, without a contract you can be held liable for the MOM minimums but once you sign a contract or letter of appointment you are liable for the terms contained therein. Sorry I can't be of more positive help.

You may well be able to compromise with them but you should read very carefully anything you sign PRIOR to signing and be very sure when you sign. I would generally not sign anything until my first day of work unless I am accepting an overseas position.

sms

[chixchix]

Yeah once you sign, they will make you pay.However, you might want to give the company some other reason other than telling them you found a better job.

[chixchix]

what a coincidence..just as I was advising you.I fell into that same thing myself. I was offered a job by a Agency. Now I have signed their agreement and also the company's agreement. My job will commence on 12 Sep.

However, yesterday,I got a call from my previous job asking me to go back,, now I dont know what to do.

The company will be ok,,since I havent started but the agency will dosome nonsense i know.

[sundaymorningstaple]

what a coincidence..just as I was advising you.I fell into that same thing myself. I was offered a job by a Agency. Now I have signed their agreement and also the company's agreement. My job will commence on 12 Sep.

However, yesterday,I got a call from my previous job asking me to go back,, now I dont know what to do.

The company will be ok,,since I havent started but the agency will dosome nonsense i know.

chixchix,

The agreement with the agency (if you signed one - probably you did) will probably say something like you will owe them the equivalent of their fee should you back out after signing. (This is probably 60-100% of one month's salary that you signed the contract for) Yes, they can take you to the small claims tribunal and yes you will be liable. A lot will depend on how long ago you signed up to work with the new company and whether or not the consultant has been paid their commission on your placement. Often, they will just send a threatening letter and leave it at that. Good Luck.

sms

[C3PO]

Thanks for the advice guys, I gues I'll just observed what the other side has to offer. I guess there is no perfect employer nor employee neither. hehe,
at least the other side is better than the current one, hope they won't make me clean glass windows(pun intended) hehe.

[chixchix]

Hi thanks there , yeah well lets see. I thought of calling the agency and asking if I could drop the whole thing if I get another job,,hopefully I wont sound like an idiot LOL

[jomni]

ask your prospective employer (the one you finally decide to go with) to compensate the agency.

[chixchix]

ahhahah please lah they wont do that. its not their problem.Anyway,, maybe if you are looking at top positions than maybe this works...