Job Application Issue

I doubt anyone here knows the answer, but doesn't hurt to post and see!

A friend of mine applied for a pretty decent internship this summer and was without a doubt at the top of the applicant pool. The probability of acceptance was likely near 100%. However, she recently reached out to the firm and asked when acceptance letters would be sent out since she had not heard back from them and it was past the date they said they would send them out by. The firm responded by saying that they could not consider her application until she has an interview with them and that she should consider applying again in the fall.
The problem is that she DID have an interview with them. She fulfilled all criteria for the application.

Given that they probably already sent out acceptance letters, they probably cannot accept her now given that it would require (I'm assuming so) retracting acceptance of another person.

My question is, are there any laws (in the United States) protecting applicants from unfair practices (or mistakes on behalf of the firm) such as this, and are there any laws in particular that could justify pursuing legal action against the company for essentially screwing over my friend? There are in fact damages present given that my friend prioritized this internship over other options and was not able to fully pursue other options due to her dedication to this firm.

 

Perhaps a better question would be where can I find any possibly relevant laws? I know some exist for things like discrimination, but I'd like to be able to find all of them.

 

The point is you find if there is any reason to get a lawyer before getting a lawyer.

Only looking for knowledgeable answers, thanks! No need to post if you don't know the answer.

 

Yeah, I'm sure he doesn't appreciate your spam on his thread.

Anyway @OP, while you may get some kind of iffy advice here your best bet is doing the obvious. Consult with some kind of attorney via email or find someone who does free consultations. They'll be able to tell you if you have a case or not, and how to proceed from there. The best anyone here can do is cite a few laws that may or may not apply and recommend you seek legal counsel.

 

Even if there was a law you could exploit (if you'd even call it that), you'd have to be able to prove you had an interview, or it's your word vs theirs. Then again they aren't obliged to give you an internship either so even if you win a case... long shot, and not worth the time imo. If she was at the top of the applicants pool she shouldn't have trouble finding a good internship anywhere else i figure.

to just get further into this

In no way was your friend forced to only focus on this internship, and in no way will this hold ground in court.
Your only bet would be discrimination which i figure doesn't apply at all here or you don't have proof of any sort of discrimination happening during the application process. I could be wrong ofcourse, if you left out details.

 

There's definitely evidence of the interview that exists (email correspondences). It's too late to find any other meaningful internships now. She may not have been forced to focus on this internship, but focusing on it left her with less time to explore other options. That's undeniable. There is a loss in terms of forfeited expected gains associated with the other options that she had to give up to pursue this option more. The promised expectation was that the expected payoff of this application is nonzero, and the firm did not allow her to realize this by unfairly denying her the right to be considered as an applicant despite her following proper procedure, even if it was just a mistake on behalf of the firm.

I'm no legal expert, but I've heard of plenty of cases where compensation is provided for loss of expected gains due to improper actions of one party.

In any case, she contacted the firm again and provided evidence of the interview. She's waiting on their response. I'm just considering options for her depending on their response. If she considers it worth pursuing, we might seek out a free consultation.

I'm only wondering if she should pursue legal action since she is in a unique situation that makes this unfair application process particularly damaging, but no need to go into more details.

 

Just updating. Firm responded to my friend. They apologized and gave a full time job offer to her upon graduation. She's satisfied with this. All is good.

 

I will close this then, that's good of them.