Jedrin,
Your topic is totally off-post, but I will give you my 2 anyway.
I was placed at a company 3 years ago by Robert Half. I found them to be
the most reputable agency out there, and I had very good experiences
with them. (They placed me for a PHP job.) Almost all recruiters I’ve
met are scum (really, scum of the earth), but the people at Robert Half
that I worked with were respectable and professional. Pushy, at times,
but professional.
It sounds like the contract they want you to sign is a non-compete
contract, meaning that if they introduce you to a client who then hires
you they get to collect a recruiter’s fee (typically 20-33% of your
annual salary). You don’t pay this, the employer does. This is actually
standard in the industry (for recruiters), although it is kind of
appalling.
The contact they want you to sign is basically saying that if they
introduce you to one of their clients, you can’t go work for that client
directly without A) working through them or B) them getting their
placement fee from the employer. That’s all they want – money. It is in
everyone’s interest for you to get a good job.
This is what you wrote is in the contract:
Consultant agrees to provide, on an
as needed basis, such IT services required by Robert Half from time to
time … work provided hereunder shall be under direction of Robert
Half or client(s) of Robert Half
Based on the provision you posted in contact, I don’t actually know what
your concern is. You are right to read contracts before signing them and
to seek as much information as possible, of course, but it is unclear to
me what your actual concern is. Maybe you concerned that this contract
is obligating you to do work for them – it isn’t. Indentured servitude
has been illegal for a long time and almost all states are “At-will”
states, meaning you work “at will” and they can fire you “at will.” All
this part of the contract says is that IF you do work for one of their
clients (that they introduce you to), it has to be through them.
Do keep in mind that any contact that has a provision that is not in
accordance with the law is not an enforceable contact – no matter what
anyone tells you, contracts can’t circumvent “the people’s will” (the
law of the land). Non-compete agreements are extremely hard to enforce,
and historically are meaningless. That doesn’t mean you should try to
get away with going behind their back to work for one of their clients,
it just means that the scope of the agreement is typically narrow in the
eyes of the law.
For example, let’s say that you go out and make a contact with an
employer they work with. But they didn’t introduce you, you just
happened to find that employer on your own. That would clearly not be
covered under the non-compete agreement because they can’t make a
contract with you that limits your right to be a free agent and find
work on your own. (That contract wouldn’t be recognized by the law.) But
if they do introduce you to the employer, they probably do have a legal
case. Sometimes there is gray area, so see my suggestion #2 below. As
I’m trying to explain, this stuff is complicated.
Basically if you go on an interview through Robert Half, they want to
either subcontract you (make money off selling your hours), or they want
a big fat placement fee (from the employer) that is about 25% of your
annual salary (but that is negotiated between the employer & the
recruiter, not you). If you play by those rules, you should be fine with
Robert Half. If you don’t want that, I would suggest you not work with
any recruiters at all.
I would recommend you do two things:
-
See a job counselor who might help you (kind of like therapy but for
your profession) figure out what it is that you need from your future
employment. Boil it down to the things that matter to you (hours,
location, salary, work environment, type of work, etc). Then figure out
if what Robert Half is asking you to sign is at odds with any of those
core things. If it is, bring it up to them as part of your core values
you don’t want to give up. I wouldn’t recommend not signing the contract
on principle – everyone is going to have a contract, it is just a
matter of what in the contract is at odds with what you need.
-
If you are really concerned about the language within the contract,
you should consult a lawyer. Only a lawyer can offer you legitimate
legal advice based on the laws in your state. You can also get free
advice from various labor boards and/or labor advocacy groups. If you do
that, be sure to have a specific question that you want an answer for.
Good luck!
-Jason