Recruiter Fat-Fingers Offer Letter - $200K Signing Bonus Instead of $20K
Offer letters are supposed to be reviewed meticulously before they're sent to candidates. Templates, approvals, double-checks—everything designed to prevent errors. Except when your brain is fried from back-to-back calls and you accidentally type "$200,000 signing bonus" instead of "$20,000." A recruiter at a tech company learned this lesson the hard way when they sent an offer letter with a signing bonus inflated by exactly one zero.
The candidate who received the offer noticed the error immediately—because who wouldn't notice an extra $180,000 appearing in their compensation package?—and had to make a choice: be honest about the obvious mistake, or stay silent and see if the company honored it.
They chose silence. Legal drama followed.
How the Error Happened
The recruiter explained the mistake in a panicked post to r/recruiting: "I was on my 8th offer letter of the day, copy-pasting compensation details from our approved template. The role had a $20K signing bonus—pretty standard for mid-level engineering. When I typed the number, my finger hit '0' twice. The field auto-formatted to '$200,000' but I didn't notice because I was exhausted and rushing."
The offer letter went out via DocuSign at 6:47 PM on a Friday—never a good time to send important documents that require mental clarity to review.
The candidate received the offer at 6:52 PM, read through it, saw "$200,000 signing bonus" listed clearly in the compensation summary, and signed it within 15 minutes. They returned the signed agreement at 7:11 PM with a note: "Excited to join the team!"
The recruiter saw the returned signature notification, marked it as complete in their ATS, and logged off for the weekend feeling accomplished about closing another candidate.
Monday Morning Disaster
"My manager called me into her office, closed the door, and asked very calmly, 'Can you explain why we just offered a mid-level engineer a $200,000 signing bonus?'" the recruiter recounted. "I looked at the offer letter she handed me and felt my soul leave my body. There it was, in black and white: $200,000. Signed by both parties."
The company's legal team was immediately consulted. The question: Is a signed offer letter with an obvious typo a binding contract, or can the company rescind the inflated bonus?
The answer: It's complicated.
The Candidate's Response
The candidate's response: "I signed the offer letter you sent me in good faith. The document clearly states $200,000, and both parties have signed it. I've already given notice at my current job based on this compensation package. I expect the company to honor the signed agreement."
The recruiter panicked. The manager escalated to senior leadership. Legal got more involved.
According to the candidate's post in r/legaladvice (seeking validation for their position), they argued that while the bonus might seem high, it wasn't obviously unreasonable for a competitive tech company trying to attract talent in a hot market. "How am I supposed to know what signing bonuses are standard at this company?" they wrote. "Maybe they really valued my skills. The offer was clear, in writing, and signed."
What Legal Said
Mutual mistake doctrine might apply: If both parties made a mistake about a material fact in a contract, courts can sometimes void or reform the contract. The company could argue this was a mutual mistake about the signing bonus amount.
Counter-argument—unilateral mistake: The candidate would argue this wasn't mutual—only the company made a mistake. The candidate accurately understood and accepted the offer as written. Courts are less likely to void contracts for unilateral mistakes, especially when the non-mistaken party relied on the contract (like giving notice at their current job).
Good faith obligation: Some jurisdictions require parties to act in good faith and point out obvious errors rather than exploiting them. If the candidate knew or should have known the bonus amount was an error, they might have an obligation to flag it.
At-will employment complicates things: In most U.S. states, employment is at-will, meaning the company could technically fire the candidate immediately after they start and refuse to pay the bonus. Though this would create serious employer brand damage and potential wrongful termination claims.
How It Was Resolved
The candidate would receive a $75,000 signing bonus—significantly more than the intended $20,000, but far less than the mistaken $200,000. The company also agreed to cover the candidate's legal fees and provide an additional $10,000 as a "goodwill gesture for the confusion."
The candidate accepted the settlement and started at the company three weeks later. Total cost to the company: $85,000 + legal fees (estimated at $15,000) = $100,000 for what should have been a $20,000 bonus.
The recruiter received a formal written warning, mandatory training on offer letter procedures, and is now required to have all offer letters peer-reviewed before sending.
"I still have nightmares about that extra zero," the recruiter posted in a follow-up. "But I learned an expensive lesson: Always. Triple-check. Numbers."
What the Recruiting Community Said
The story generated intense debate in recruiting forums about who was in the wrong:
Team "Candidate Should Have Said Something": "If you receive an offer that's clearly a mistake—like a signing bonus 10x higher than market rate—you have an ethical obligation to point it out, not exploit it. This candidate knew it was an error and chose to play hardball. That's not how you want to start a working relationship."
Team "Company Should Honor Signed Contracts": "The company sent a formal offer letter, the candidate signed it in good faith, and now the company wants to back out because they made an error. That's not the candidate's problem. If you send official legal documents, you need to get them right. The candidate had every right to hold the company accountable."
Team "Everyone Sucks Here": "The recruiter made a careless error. The company tried to weasel out of a signed contract. The candidate exploited an obvious mistake instead of clarifying. Nobody comes out of this looking good."
The Aftermath
The candidate started at the company and, according to later updates, is performing well in the role. The initial tension over the bonus dispute has mostly faded, though some team members reportedly know about the situation and have mixed feelings.
"It's awkward sometimes," the candidate admitted in a later Reddit comment. "But I gave notice at my previous job based on the offer I received. I had to look out for myself. I'm doing good work now and proving I'm worth the investment."
The recruiter is still at the company and has become obsessively careful about offer letter accuracy. They posted a follow-up: "I now review every offer letter at least three times, have a colleague review it, sleep on it, then review it one more time before sending. I've sent maybe 40 offers since the incident and haven't had a single error. It only takes one mistake to learn this lesson permanently."
Lessons for Recruiters
Recruiting professionals shared key takeaways from the incident:
Always have offer letters peer-reviewed: A second set of eyes catches errors you miss when you're rushed or tired.
Use automated validation for compensation fields: ATS systems can flag when signing bonuses, salaries, or other compensation elements fall outside expected ranges.
Don't send important documents late on Fridays: When you're mentally exhausted and rushing to finish the week, you make mistakes. Send offers earlier in the week when you have mental clarity.
If you discover an error, address it immediately and professionally: Explain the mistake, apologize, and work with the candidate to find a fair resolution. Trying to unilaterally rescind signed offers creates legal exposure and employer brand damage.
Include error correction language in offer letters: Some companies add clauses like "This offer is subject to final approval and correction of any clerical errors" to preserve the ability to fix mistakes. Though these clauses don't always protect you legally.
The Final Word
One extra zero cost a company $80,000 more than they intended to pay. It's a reminder that offer letters are legal documents with real financial consequences, and carelessness in drafting them can get expensive fast.
For candidates: if you receive an offer that seems too good to be true, it probably is—and exploiting obvious errors might win you money but damage your professional relationships.
For recruiters: triple-check your numbers, have offers peer-reviewed, and never send important documents when you're exhausted on a Friday evening.
And for everyone: maybe just accept that we all make typos sometimes, handle them professionally when they happen, and try not to end up in Reddit threads being debated by internet lawyers.
Though honestly, a $200K signing bonus for a mid-level engineer would be pretty sweet.
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