Can I sue for false promise

Question

During the covid pandemic, I requested to work from home due to my kids being out of school. I was told that I would need a laptop In able to work from home. My manager told me that when I got the laptop I would be able to be set up to work from home. About a week later after going from store to store searching for a laptop.which were sold Out due to more people Working from home I finally found one and purchased it. After I informed my manager that I now have a laptop she told me to get set up with IS and the front desk lead to work from home. I proceeded to do both which I took the rest of the day doing some training with a front desk person.when getting set up with is took about two weeks and I still was not successful due to underlying requirements that I was not aware of. I constantly had to put ticket after ticket request in in order to even download the app to my computer. The last call I made to IS they finally told me what the problem was and he informed me that I was to hav training through learning links in able to have access, he informed me that he would still put in a token requested but my manager would have to approve it. I went to inform my manager of this and she told me just to report to work the next day but I was already taken off the schedule to work from home. My only baby sitter is now returning back to work due to the fact that I was approved to Work from home and after months of me battling, trying to manage with not leaving my job is to find a sitter which my luck is now running out. I explained everything of this with childcare to my manager and she agreed to let me work from home. She even took my off the schedule which I Have proof of also messages and emails getting me set up to work from home. So yesterday morning I looked at my email to see if it was approved, the request said rejected. I then saw my manager and she said that she had to speak with me, once we spoke she didn’t even mention the fact that I was not approved and I have to report to work the next day. I had to mention it to her, what she said she had to speak with me about was totally different from the fact that she denied me to work from home. Her reason was because I had to do 4 days of training and she couldn’t afford for me to be out of work for four days .... but she already took me off Te schedule and it’s been two days now and people are covering me the days I was suppose to be off..... so how does she not have coverage if everyday I come in and see that an extra staff is here to cover me .....after me purchasing a laptop and going through everything I had to Go through just to be turned down even after being taken off the schedule. I’m pregnant and I’ve been crying every since because it’s depressing to me that I now have to possibly quit my job because I can’t battle with having a sitter anymore. Do I have a right to sue them for renege/false promises?

Answer 1

You can't sue for false promise per se, but it might enter into a suit for something else. It sounds like your employer offered you a choice between coming in to work (extremely difficult), termination or furlough (extremely undesirable), versus working at home (the preferable option), and the latter was contingent on you doing things that relate to being able to work at home (get a computer and so on). Relying on that promise, you purchased a computer: but then they decided that you had to come in to work. Based just on that, you could sue them for damages (maybe the computer, maybe the added cost of finding a new babysitter, possibly loss of wages). They might want to argue that they don't owe you anything, but your lawyer would (legally) prevent them from making that argument, using what is known as promissory estoppel. You took certain actions based on their promise, so you are entitled to rely on that promise. Their counter-argument would probably be that you didn't do what you were supposed to do, and your attorney would respond that the company obstructed you from doing what had to be done, or had not taken reasonable steps to say in advance what was required of you.