{
  "registry_version": "2026.08.2",
  "data": {
    "title": "Offer rescinded or delayed due to internal freeze",
    "status": "active",
    "evidence_ids": [
      "EVD-004"
    ],
    "content": "# Offer rescinded or delayed due to internal freeze\n\nCandidate is verbally offered a role or receives written offer which is subsequently delayed or retracted before start date.\n\n### Diagnostic Non-Inferences\n- Does not imply candidate failed reference checks unless explicitly stated.",
    "id": "A-011",
    "type": "artifact",
    "summary": "Candidate is verbally offered a role or receives written offer which is subsequently delayed or retracted before start date.",
    "stages": [
      "offer",
      "post-offer"
    ],
    "evidence_level": "supported",
    "probes": [
      {
        "id": "PROBE-A-011-1",
        "action": "Request formal written notice regarding whether requisition is permanently cancelled or deferred to next fiscal quarter.",
        "expected_signal": "Provides timeline clarity for candidate decision-making.",
        "cost": "low"
      }
    ],
    "specimens": [
      {
        "kind": "email",
        "label": "The offer, then the retraction",
        "subject": "Offer — Senior Backend Engineer",
        "context": "nine days apart",
        "lines": [
          {
            "text": "Day 0 — Delighted to confirm the offer we discussed. Start date 1 June, contract attached for signature.",
            "tell": false
          },
          {
            "text": "Day 9 — I am very sorry to write this. A company-wide hiring freeze was announced this morning and all outstanding offers are suspended, including yours.",
            "tell": true
          },
          {
            "text": "Day 9 — I understand you may have given notice. Please tell me if there is anything I can do, and I will be honest with you about what I can and cannot influence.",
            "tell": false
          }
        ],
        "reading": "Two dated documents about the same role. Whatever happens next, the fact that a written offer existed on day 0 is established, not remembered."
      },
      {
        "kind": "chat",
        "label": "Establishing the scope of the freeze",
        "lines": [
          {
            "speaker": "Candidate",
            "at": "day 9",
            "text": "Is the freeze specific to the team, or company-wide?",
            "tell": false
          },
          {
            "speaker": "Recruiter",
            "at": "day 9",
            "text": "Company-wide. Every open req is paused, and three other offers are in the same position as yours.",
            "tell": true
          }
        ],
        "reading": "The answer places the cause outside the hiring loop and outside the candidate. It also makes the claim checkable against public news."
      }
    ],
    "non_inferences": [
      "Does not imply candidate failed reference checks unless explicitly stated."
    ]
  }
}