Agency wants me to go direct (No signed Contract)

[brianbetter]

Recruitment Consultant Viewpoint

As a pimp, we would be on to a lost thing chasing someone who has not signed terms and conditions. I would do it and not worry about it, whatever pimp has organised it is going to be f**king hammered to the mast for not getting you to sign a contract and probably will not want the fact making public.

You cannot be tied in to a contract simply be turning up, as we all know, there is no such thing a verbal or unwritten contract.

Also, by paying your invoice, your agency will be breaching every ISO and internal rule they have set up. As reputable members of the the Recruitment and Employment Confederation, we are told to never pay invoices unless a signed contract has been received.

A lot of agencies have been burnt by a "company" calling them for specific support and then , before suitable CVs can be sourced, the company tells the agency it has found some good people they need payrolling though the agency. The agency pays the signed timesheets, invoices the company after 30 days, and hey presto, both the company and the candidates were all found to be created and the agency cannot recover money.

With these sort of scams in place, your agency is acting in a disreputable manner by not giving you a contract to sign (and i imagine they performed no refernce or identification checking) and I think that any attempt to chase you for going direct would be extremely foolhardy and the agency would lose more face by you making their malpractice public than you would lose by them whinging about you going direct.

[sascc]

Whether you sign a contract or not once you are on a clients site and start working you have accepted the defacto terms of any contract the agency may or my not have sent you. I was almost in the same position but I did notify the agency that I hadn't received a contract to sign and that I would not be accepting any terms and conditions of any contract. My situation was that I was after a weeks worth of interviews I was offered a job on a Friday afternoon with a Monday morning start. The agency put me under the usual pressure 'if you don't start Monday then the job offer would be withdrawn and go to the next guy'. They weren't too happy with my 'non-acceptance' email but I'm glad I sent it becaese when I received the written contract it was nothing like the 'verbal' promises that the agency had made.

[mark271]

I have decided today that I am going direct. The company is not a small company and have been running for a number of years and is quite big in the car industry. My contract ends at the end of August and they have told the agency that they do not want to renew my contract. I will then go on holiday for a few weeks and return to the company direct. This will give me enough time to get paid everything they owe me as they are usually good with payments.

Mark.

[meridian]

I currently have no signed contract with the agency. I will make and sign a contract between me and the client.

I'd say you have quite a good chance of there being no comeback with the agency to you directly; however, it's likely that the client does have a written contract/PO with the agency.

If the client is aware of their own contract with the agency and is willing to take the commercial risk, then go for it.

I've done this once with a client where the agency never returned calls, etc - it got so bad with agents changing at the agency that they'd forgotten I was with the client. After the first renewal I had no contract for a while, tried to rectify that by sending my own contract (ex PCG) to the agency but they never returned it. At second renewal I considered the client to be fair game, went direct and never looked back.

Good luck!

PS, IANAL.....

[LittlestHobbo]

if they haven't even presented you with a contract to sign (i.e emailed/ faxed/ posted you a copy) then you might be ok. Speak to a solicitor first though as none of us here are experts.. make sure they have paid you everything they owe you before you make the jump as they are likely to withhold your money and then you will need a legal battle to get them to pay you.

Getting into legal battles with agents isn't a great idea i managed to resolve my dispute out of court but it cost me a weeks money and was pretty stressfull and alot phone calls threats etc etc.


It also depends on the Client. An agency also will pay you regulary with just a timesheet. A direct Client could use delaying tactics to pay you (it happens), they could withhold money if they get pissed off with you or there is a dispute, project goes wrong who's fault is it, not yours obviously but some one will try and blame you because then they won't have to pay you.

If its a small company I'd never go direct agencies do offer you protection (as long as they don't go bust themselves!)

[TykeMerc]

To be honest I've had gigs in the past where no contract has ever been sent or signed, if it came to a legal fight you would be on interesting ground. I'd give you a 65-35 chance of winning, but of course it can scupper you with the agent and all of their connections.
Speaking purely personally it's a fight I would be prepared to have, but I'm something of a risk taker at times.

[mark271]

I currently have no signed contract with the agency. I will make and sign a contract between me and the client.

[BolshieBastard]

I suspect the client doesnt want a 'written contract' for a number of reasons other than cutting agent's costs!

If you're happy to take the risk that that brings ie being told to leave the building as of now with no notice or money in lieu etc then, fair enough.

There could be more risks working without a contract than with one.

[mark271]

The only emails they have are me keep asking for a contract to sign. I just give up after a while as they where not sending it. How can a agree to a contract I have never seen they could put anything in there.

[LittlestHobbo]

Hello All,

I am comming up to my second renewal and the client would like me to go direct to them to save on agency fee's. I have actually never signed anything for the agenct no contract no form before seeing the client. I have heard that you have to wait 6 weeks before you can go direct but does this make any differance with me not having signed a contract. Basically they agreed a price I work for and they pay me that amount each day when I invoice. I did not sign anything on my last renewal. I client does not really want me to be off for 6 weeks.

Mark.

depends on what your contract says, or theirs with the client. If they have emails with you agreeing to an extension then i think that would stand up in court...if i was writing a contract i'd probably have a clause in there that says, by turning up at the client and working you are accepting the contract..An agency won't just let you walk direct to a client otherwise everyone would do it and they'd have no business...

be careful!

[mark271]

Hello All,

I am comming up to my second renewal and the client would like me to go direct to them to save on agency fee's. I have actually never signed anything for the agenct no contract no form before seeing the client. I have heard that you have to wait 6 weeks before you can go direct but does this make any differance with me not having signed a contract. Basically they agreed a price I work for and they pay me that amount each day when I invoice. I did not sign anything on my last renewal. I client does not really want me to be off for 6 weeks.

Mark.