Welcome to issue 259 of the ukrecruiter newsletter. As
it's a short working week this is a more compact newsletter edition
to ensure you still have time to read it.
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Article
One: Introduction Fees by Gareth Williams of Penn Legal
Question
I own my own recruitment agency and I recently introduced a candidate for a vacancy with my client. I understood that the client felt the candidate was not suitable for the position, however, and I have now learned that they have employed the candidate in another position without paying me a fee. The client has never signed a copy of our terms and conditions. Is there anything I can do to collect the fee that I feel I deserve?
Answer
The general position at law is relatively simple; if the engagement of the candidate was caused by your introduction of the candidate to the client then you are entitled to a fee and you should succeed in a legal claim for recovery of the fee due. However there are a number of factors which may change this general position.
Agency/Employment Business
Although you state that you are acting as an ‘agency’ many recruitment consultancies are actually ‘employment businesses’ as defined in the Employment Agencies Act. Broadly speaking you will be acting as an employment business if you are intending to supply temporary workers to the client. If you were acting as an employment business you need to have agreed certain provisions in a written contract with the client giving them a right to engage the candidate on a fixed period of hire via yourself, otherwise you will not have any entitlement to a fee.
Terms of Contract
Just because the client did not sign a contract does not mean that there is no contractual relationship. A contract containing a well drafted acceptance clause could ensure the contract has been validly accepted by virtue of the client’s conduct (i.e. by their using information that you provide or engaging a candidate). If you did not agree terms of business with the client before introducing the candidate to them then you will have breached ‘The Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003’ (the ‘regulations’) and as such you will be theoretically exposed to a legal claim, if the client can show a resulting loss, or subject to a DTI investigation if the client chooses to make a complaint.
However, even in the absence of a written contract, and even if you have breached the regulations, you may still be likely to succeed in a Court action for your fees.
As you are acting in the course of a business the Courts are likely to consider the there were implied terms for payment in your relationship with the client at the standard rate in the recruitment industry for the services provided.
‘Effective Cause’
You will not however be entitled to a fee unless your introduction of the candidate was the ‘effective cause’ of the employment. If the client argues that their
employment of the candidate was independent of your services then the Court will have to decide on the factual position. Various factors will influence the Court’s decision including whether the client previously knew the candidate other than via yourself and if there was a delay between your introduction of the candidate and their subsequent employment. The client will not be able to escape liability simply on the basis that they have employed the candidate for a different position than that which you suggested.
Well drafted terms and conditions can be of significant advantage to you in this regard by ensuring that your introduction of the client is deemed to be the cause of any subsequent employment in a wide range of circumstances.
Legal Strategy
If you feel sufficiently confident you could issue legal proceedings yourself, the government website
www.moneyclaim.gov.uk
may help in this regard. If the debt is undisputed you could issue a Statutory Demand. This means you can start insolvency proceedings if the client doesn’t ‘pay up’ – although this strategy is not without risk to you.
If you choose to use a Solicitor for a claim worth below £5,000 then you may struggle to reclaim your legal costs from the client; however, this is not always the case and there are strategies a Solicitor can use to help get your costs paid upon successful conclusion of the claim.
Gareth Williams is a Solicitor at Penn Legal.
Penn Legal specialise in servicing the recruitment industry.
Tel: 0870 043 4361 Email: agency@pennlegal.co.uk
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Back
Issues
If you are missing the usual
second article this week and want to read more why not take a look
at the back issues of the newsletter. Maybe you've missed an
article we've previously run. All back issues are on our
website at http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/recnet/index.htm
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Don't
Miss This
First UK Recruiter
wedding?
Congratulations to James Room of TAC Europe and Kim Mason, formally
of First Choice Software, for their wedding on the 28th April. UK Recruiter is claiming credit for introducing James and Kim back in November 2003. They both took the sound decision to attend one of our networking events without, I am sure, realising the full significance of their decisions. We wish them every
happiness.
Winning Strategies for
Recruiters Seminars, Bill Radin's UK Tour, May 2006
This is your first-ever opportunity to attend a Bill Radin seminar
in England. He is based in the USA and is a leading and highly
respected trainer of recruiters (and he writes for this newsletter).
The full-day workshop "reveals the strategies and techniques
used by top-producing recruiters" to boost your performance and
increase productivity. Topics include Candidate Sourcing and
Recruiting, How to Improve Your Recruiting Skills, Strengthen Your
Candidate Assessment and Closing and Winning Strategies: The
Business Side of Recruiting. The events take place on 16 May in
Manchester, 18 May in Birmingham and 19 May in London. For more
information visit http://www.successco.co.uk.
Take part in Cubiks’ online
survey
Cubiks is currently conducting an online survey to investigate the challenges that are most commonly faced by employers in selection and development situations. Areas covered include common interview difficulties, the challenges associated with assessing candidates for management positions and the candidate experience.
To take part please click here.
All responses will be treated in the strictest of confidence and not disclosed to anyone, except in an anonymous format. All survey respondents will receive a copy of the findings as soon as these are published.
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Discussion
Board Summary
Don't forget to visit http://ukrecruiter.willco.com/forum/Forum. Current topics on the site
include:
CRM
Software - Looking for a recommendation for software for a
new startup
Split
Fees - Advice required on a fee splitting arrangement
Lawyers
- Good contract lawyer sought
It is free to use the discussion board and you don't have to
register to view messages. Visit the site; ask questions and
share your knowledge
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Statistics
Hitwise top 10 Recruitment
Sites, week ending 15th April 2006
The most visited UK recruitment sites last week, starting with the
most popular, were jobcentreplus.gov.uk, totaljobs.com,
jobsite.co.uk, reed.co.uk, monster.co.uk, jobs.nhs.uk, jobs.tes.co.uk,
jobs.guardian.co.uk, jobsgopublic.com and eteach.com. For more information about Hitwise, visit http://www.hitwise.co.uk
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complete the form below.
Regards
Louise Triance
UK Recruiter http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk
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