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“Good morning,

Thank you for your application for our Entry Level Sales Position. We appreciate your interest in joining our company (NO YOU DON'T, OR YOU WOULD HAVE HIRED ME), and we are pleased that you decided to invest time and effort in applying for one of our positions. (NO YOU AREN'T)

We carefully reviewed a large number of applications; unfortunately, at this time we are not able to invite you to (NO, YOU ARE PLENTY ABLE TO, YOU CHOSE NOT TO, BUT WHATEVER, IT'S YOUR LOSS) the next stage of the hiring process. Though your resume was impressive, we have decided to move forward with a candidate whose qualifications are better suited to this particular role. We wish you the best of luck in all your future endeavors. (NO YOU DON'T. YOU DON'T CARE ABOUT ME AT ALL, AND IT'S INSULTING TO GASLIGHT ME LIKE THIS)

Best, The Recruiting Team”

Essentially, I took their rejection email, added my comments on it (CAPITALIZED AND BOLD, IN PARENTHESES), and am debating whether or not to reply to the rejection email with it.

I don’t care if you think it will get me blackballed. I just want to know if there is any realistic chance it could be interpreted as threatening or get me in legal trouble.

I live in the USA if it’s relevant

Thanks

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People over at the workplace already told you: don't. Just don't.

But since your question here is whether it is illegal, I'll answer that question: No, it's not.

It's perfectly legal in the US to be insulting, rude and obnoxious. You would not break any laws. Since you are communicating this directly to the person you are insulting, it's not libel or slander either.

Since you will come across as slightly unhinged, they may take legal steps available to them, like not allowing you onto their premises any more. I don't know if you would consider that "trouble", if you really don't care for them, I guess you wouldn't notice anyway.

So to summarize, it's a terrible idea, but it's not illegal.

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  • Thank you. It is not a terrible idea from my point of view. From my point of view, rejecting me was the terrible idea.
    – Neal
    Commented Feb 7 at 8:41
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    @Neal those two things are not mutually exclusive.
    – Sneftel
    Commented Feb 7 at 8:42
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    @neal I suspect the company probably doesn't want to hire the types of people who would write a response like that, so most likely all you will achieve is to convince them that rejecting you was actually a good idea.
    – JBentley
    Commented Feb 7 at 10:07
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    @Neal If this position was sent through a 3rd party recruitment agency then you'd be potentially blacklisting yourself from any position through this agency in future. Fun as it would be, the "payoff" seems very shortlived
    – Alex Robinson
    Commented Feb 7 at 11:02

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