FAO: Klobo04

Ref your thread thismorning at the bottom:

1) You're bound by your old contract with the agency until you sign the new one. The new contract is unlilely to be better for you (they wouldnt bother otherwise) but I don't know how much practical leverage you have to refuse to sign it.

2) A quick scan of the directive suggests that these finders fee/commission clauses will probbaly still be valid, provided they don't set an unreasonably high level of compensation for the agency.

3) The clause re finder's fee in *your* contract with the agency is an irrelevance (unless it requires you to pay it, which would be odd) as their ability to charge the employer will need to be in the contract the agency has with the employer.

4) Assuming the agents have the same provision in their Ts&Cs with the employer, and the employer wants to hire you within the 13 weeks, they will need to make a commercial call on whether it's worth paying the finders fee to secure you or whether they want to stick two fingers up to the agency and employ you anyway. I am aware of some agents suing clients for such finders fees - at court they would most probably win, but commercially they'd then lose future business with the employer so if there's an ongoing relationship they probably wouldn't bother and the two parties would come to some sort of agreement about it.

Credentials: Commercial lawyer who has to occasionally amend these finders fee clauses in the Ts&Cs recruitment consultants throw at us. But I'm not an employment lawyer so only have a superficial interest in it all.

Posted By: CWC, Oct 20, 18:14:43