Man says he signed a contract without checking the start date; on his first day he ends up paying previous company salary in lieu of notice period

SINGAPORE: A man who signed a contract for a new job without checking his commencement date ended up having to buy out his notice period in his previous company.

In an anonymous post, the man wrote: “I got a job offer and was super excited to join the company, so I signed the contract without seeing the commencement date. When HR called me asking where I am on my first day, I was shocked as I told her in an email that I was only able to start in July and was not informed that my commencement date was pushed earlier”.

The representative from HR informed him that his start date was stated in the contract he had signed. “The only solution to this problem is to buyout my notice period as they need someone to start soon. So I told HR that I will buyout. I managed to pay my ex company using my own money…but I would like to claim from my current new company. How should I approach her in this kind of situation? I understand that it’s mostly my fault for not reading the contract properly but the buyout payment is a lot”, the man wrote.

He said he had asked HR twice via emails about claiming the buyout but had not heard back from the representative. He asked others in the group what he should do.

Here’s what they said: