Asked by the Customer on 30-04-2020 14:44:10
Question posted in the General Law category relating to Western Cape
Is an offer letter a legal contract?
I was offered a full time contract at a company but after a month (just before my first paycheck), they told me that one of my references came back negative, and that they wanted me to go over onto a consultancy agreement. I was forced to sign a new offer letter (sign or we will have to let you go) which I did. I never signed the new (consultancy) contract, and HR neglected to follow up. After 5 months, and plenty of issues from the CEO's side, they discovered the unsigned contract issue, and pulled me into meetings to try to get me to sign the (consultancy) contract. They kept saying that I was already a consultant because:
* I had signed the offer letter.
* I had invoiced them for my salary (a requirement from their side from the first paycheck)
After refusing to sign the new contract, I was fired. I'm now going to the CCMA for unfair dismissal.
My question: Is the offer letter a binding contract? I need a specific law I can quote. Does the fact that they are even coming to the CCMA meeting not prove that I'm still employed full time? I believe they were trying to get me to sign the consultancy agreement so that I would not have a legal foot to stand on, if they fired me on short notice.
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