as always, Im not a lawyer. It may vary where you are but in Australia if its reasonable for you to believe the employee has the authority to make such an agre

as always, Im not a lawyer. It may vary where you are but in Australia if its reasonable for you to believe the employee has the authority to make such an agreement then its binding (everything else being equal). The employee's actual authority isn't relevant. Otherwise people saying "oh, they didn't have the authority" becomes an instant way to wriggle out of any deal after the fact and contracts everywhere become worthless. Side note: this is one of the big reasons why big companies are so strict in their rules about low ranking employees speaking to anyone within their premises or while wearing anything identifying you as employee. It suggests you are an agent of the company and thus speak for the company. When I worked in a large supermarket chain many years ago all staff but store management were absolutely forbidden from speaking to anyone about pretty much anything because we were agents of the company and thus could be presumed to be speaking for the company.