Advice please - agent sent out speculative CV against my instructions

[nckr55]

Hello all, I'm new to the forum - and relatively new to contracting (16 months in).

I have been resisting signing an offered extension for various reasons. When I told my agent that I was considering my options, they put me onto another of their colleagues who offered to send a speculative CV to three appropriate firms.
I said that I did not want to sent speculative CVs out - unless I was in a position of being out of work. That was last week.

I got a call today from a former colleague at one of the 3 firms mentioned - as a courtesy - to let me know they had received my CV from the agent.

Extremely displeased, and will be asking (a) why this has happened against my explicit instructions, and (b) where else they have spammed with my details.

They really are a hopeless lot who, until now, have had nothing to do with me beyond processing BACS payments from the client.
I would dearly love to rid myself of them - but suspect I cannot do that while I continue with the current client on extended assignments.

In terms of the restriction of my services to this client via any other route than this agency, I find the Assignment schedule / contract wording a little ambiguous. The "Restriction" clause in the contract reads as follows:

The Consultancy shall not and shall procure that the Consultancy Staff shall not for a period of 6 months following the termination of the Assignment supply the services of the Consultancy Staff directly, or through any other person, firm or company, to any Client for whom it has carried out the Assignment at any time during the previous 6 months [save in the case of supply through an Employment Business or recruitment consultancy with whom the Consultancy was also registered at the date of commencement of the Assignment]

The last sentence, in square parenthesis, is what reads ambiguously to me. The Assignment I am currently engaged in runs from 1st June to end November (and the offered extension - not yet signed - runs from 1st December to end May 2013).
The above clause reads to me as if I could turn down the current offered Assignment and work for the client via another agency with whom I was registered at the commencement of my current Assignment?

Any advice on how to deal with this sort of nonsense (acting in direct contravention of my instructions re. sending out the CVs) and the specific contractual point above would be much appreciated.

cheers,
N

[Wanderer]

Any advice on how to deal with this sort of nonsense (acting in direct contravention of my instructions re. sending out the CVs) and the specific contractual point above would be much appreciated.

For the 6 month restrictive covenant, read and understand the opt out which is stickied in one of the forums. Depending on the circumstances, it may not be enforceable against you.

For the unsolicited sending of your CV, they are probably working on the basis that it's easier to obtain forgiveness than permission.

Remind the agency of their obligations under the Data Protection Act which makes it a criminal offence to disclose information about you to a third party without authority. The agency will respond that they were under the honest impression that you had given your consent so this was a genuine mistake that won't happen again. Yeah right.

When submitting agencies it's worth informing them in writing that they may only disclose your CV to a third party with your explicit written permission to avoid these "misunderstandings".

If you think real damage has been done to your career or reputation then you could seek damages from the agency though by the sounds of it this is unlikely to be the case and/or be difficult to prove.

[Scoi]

I've just been through this. Agent assured me i had given permission which was impossible. Told him that all submissions must have email consent from myself in future.

But I landed the gig on Monday so can't be too peed off with him.

[AnonAgent]

I've just been through this. Agent assured me i had given permission which was impossible. Told him that all submissions must have email consent from myself in future.

But I landed the gig on Monday so can't be too peed off with him.

Should have gone through another agency or gone direct. No obligation for the client to use that agency if you havent offered permission to submit your personal details.

[Scoi]

Should have gone through another agency or gone direct. No obligation for the client to use that agency if you havent offered permission to submit your personal details.

Good to know, unfortunately too late now. I was just relieved to find out who was blocking me from contacting them and give them a nudge to follow up. After i spoke to them had an interview the following week and contracts negotiated. Going direct would have been much better.