Staffing agency stands in the way of my dream job.

[troublesome]

Florida

The question, in brief, is: Can I be hired directly by a business I was introduced to by a staffing agency if the business did not sign a contract with the staffing agency?

The story is:

I found your forums while trying to research a difficult question, and I decided to offer up my problem for discussion.

I am a CNC machinist who has just moved to Florida, and I'm looking for a job. After three weeks of searching job posts and sending resumes, I decided to visit a staffing agency. They sat me down and I filled out paperwork, signed documents, and during a brief interview I was told about a really interesting opening in a local machine shop.

I visited it, and loved it. The shop is less than 3 years old, new, cramped, started by a machinist who was frustrated with machine shops in the area. It's exactly the job I want, exactly the job I'm perfect for. I want to be a plank owner in a machine shop that does great work, and my range of experience and personality makes me perfect for the dynamic and extremely challenging work it takes to make it happen.

The owner of the shop and I get along very well. He's ready to hire me but has never worked with a staffing agency before. Then he finds out that they want a $5000 fee that he simply can't understand or afford. The agency wants 50% on top of my pay for three months, whether he buys the contract outright or pays the fee on top of my wages.

I'm watching the job of my dreams slip away here. I expected to come in at $16/hr as a CNC setup machinist/programmer. Now I've offered to work for $12/hr for three months just to get past this recruitment firm, but that's still $18/hr and still too expensive.

How is this fair?? Bill me for your hours! Bill me, $100 an hour, for time that you can link to this job interview. How could that possibly be over $1000? You put one cryptic ad in the newspaper and set me up with one job interview. HOW IS THAT WORTH $5000? It simply is not, and I'm not able to work for this machine shop now, because it is not.

I've pleaded with the staffing agency to get me the job. They understand the situation thoroughly and are unwilling to bend in the slightest on their fee. I'm willing to take a $4 cut in pay in an already low starting wage just to get into this place.

I've been back to the machine shop to talk this over with the shop owner and make sure he knows how badly I want to work with him. Then I find out that the staffing agency approached him in the beginning, and did not ask him to sign anything. He didn't understand their fee when he accepted my interview, he didn't even know how a staffing agency works, and he didn't sign a contract with these people.

The shop owner didn't sign a contract. I'm going to ask for copies of all the documents I signed at the staffing agency. I'd like to suss this out and find out if we can proceed without the middle man.

If the shop owner wants to hire me outside of the staffing agency, is he liable for the fee? Is there a law on the books somewhere, since he didn't sign a contract? Where would I search for a law or a similar case precedent? Please help me, even if you can only help me understand why I don't have the right to work for him.

 

[cbg]

Whether it is fair or not, and that's quite frankly a matter of opinion, it is standard business practice that if a staffing agency brings you and an employer together, the employer may not hire you without some form of compensation to the agency. I cannot imagine that any court would rule that the employer can hire someone they would never have found without the staffing agency, without paying them for it. This is how the agency makes their living, after all.

 

[HomeGuru]

Florida

The question, in brief, is: Can I be hired directly by a business I was introduced to by a staffing agency if the business did not sign a contract with the staffing agency?

The story is:

I found your forums while trying to research a difficult question, and I decided to offer up my problem for discussion.

I am a CNC machinist who has just moved to Florida, and I'm looking for a job. After three weeks of searching job posts and sending resumes, I decided to visit a staffing agency. They sat me down and I filled out paperwork, signed documents, and during a brief interview I was told about a really interesting opening in a local machine shop.

I visited it, and loved it. The shop is less than 3 years old, new, cramped, started by a machinist who was frustrated with machine shops in the area. It's exactly the job I want, exactly the job I'm perfect for. I want to be a plank owner in a machine shop that does great work, and my range of experience and personality makes me perfect for the dynamic and extremely challenging work it takes to make it happen.

The owner of the shop and I get along very well. He's ready to hire me but has never worked with a staffing agency before. Then he finds out that they want a $5000 fee that he simply can't understand or afford. The agency wants 50% on top of my pay for three months, whether he buys the contract outright or pays the fee on top of my wages.

I'm watching the job of my dreams slip away here. I expected to come in at $16/hr as a CNC setup machinist/programmer. Now I've offered to work for $12/hr for three months just to get past this recruitment firm, but that's still $18/hr and still too expensive.

How is this fair?? Bill me for your hours! Bill me, $100 an hour, for time that you can link to this job interview. How could that possibly be over $1000? You put one cryptic ad in the newspaper and set me up with one job interview. HOW IS THAT WORTH $5000? It simply is not, and I'm not able to work for this machine shop now, because it is not.

I've pleaded with the staffing agency to get me the job. They understand the situation thoroughly and are unwilling to bend in the slightest on their fee. I'm willing to take a $4 cut in pay in an already low starting wage just to get into this place.

I've been back to the machine shop to talk this over with the shop owner and make sure he knows how badly I want to work with him. Then I find out that the staffing agency approached him in the beginning, and did not ask him to sign anything. He didn't understand their fee when he accepted my interview, he didn't even know how a staffing agency works, and he didn't sign a contract with these people.

The shop owner didn't sign a contract. I'm going to ask for copies of all the documents I signed at the staffing agency. I'd like to suss this out and find out if we can proceed without the middle man.

If the shop owner wants to hire me outside of the staffing agency, is he liable for the fee? Is there a law on the books somewhere, since he didn't sign a contract? Where would I search for a law or a similar case precedent? Please help me, even if you can only help me understand why I don't have the right to work for him.

**A: the answer is yes, a fee is due. Research procurring cause.

 

[Zigner]

I don't think that "procuring cause" would necessarily apply.

I also don't think the employer would be liable for this fee.
The person who would be responsible would be our OP - he's the one who signed the documents

 

[HomeGuru]

I don't think that "procuring cause" would necessarily apply.

I also don't think the employer would be liable for this fee.
The person who would be responsible would be our OP - he's the one who signed the documents

**A: I think you need to do some more thinking. Or maybe less.

 

[Zigner]

**A: I think you need to do some more thinking. Or maybe less.

Ok, let me be clear:

Employer did not sign a contract. The EMPLOYEE signed a contract agreeing to make certain payments based on the employment the agency finds him.

 

[HomeGuru]

Ok, let me be clear:

Employer did not sign a contract. The EMPLOYEE signed a contract agreeing to make certain payments based on the employment the agency finds him.

**A: Ok, I see the confusion. My initial response should have been yes a fee is due by you the OP.

 

[cbg]

And if that is the case, after doing so, find another agency to work with. REPUTABLE staffing agencies do not require fees of the applicants/employees.

 

[Zigner]

**A: Ok, I see the confusion. My initial response should have been yes a fee is due by you the OP.

With that, I would wholeheartedly agree

 

[HomeGuru]

With that, I would wholeheartedly agree

**A: ok, then case closed.

 

[troublesome]

I find your analysis logically and ethically agreeable but the scenario is not exactly correct.

It appears that the staffing agency simply forgot to procure a signed contract with the business owner. They walked in to his shop one morning, several months ago, looked around, talked about the candidates they'd be sending, and left. He saw a couple resumes from the agency over the next couple months.

When I walked in, the guy didn't understand how staffing agencies work. He thought I, the job seeker, paid the staffing agency to set me up with interviews. From his reaction, I can tell you he did not suspect the fee was so much. He asked me, "Did you sign anything? I didn't sign anything."

Do I have the right to obtain copies of all the documentation I signed at the staffing agency?

Hypothetically, if we are not contractually obligated, are we still somehow legally obligated to pay the staffing agency $5000?

It's possible that they are disreputable and phrased the fee to obligate the employee rather than the employer, but I rather doubt it. The staffing agency would not disclose the fee to me, the job-seeker.

My hopes of helping build a great machine shop seem somewhat lost, at this point. I'm not motivated by ANYTHING but working for that machine shop. If I could pay the fee myself, I would. However, that would mean working for $9 or $10 an hour, which would have me running out of gas and not making it to work!

 

[cbg]

It is not the agency's fault that the client company didn't understand how it works and thought that you would pay the fee.

I do not understand how either you or the client company can ethically think that the staffing agency is not owed a fee, regardless of whether a contract was signed or not. The only reason you two know about each other is because the agency brought you together. Now you think you can bypass them and cut them out of a fee for doing what they were asked to do?

 

[xylene]

A CNC machinist can easily get 25 dollars or more (much more) in a union shop.

Too bad for you signing up with some predator instead of the International Association of Machinists or one of the at least 3 other major leading unions who represent your job skill.

But wait... its not too late.

 

[Zigner]

It is not the agency's fault that the client company didn't understand how it works and thought that you would pay the fee.

I do not understand how either you or the client company can ethically think that the staffing agency is not owed a fee, regardless of whether a contract was signed or not. The only reason you two know about each other is because the agency brought you together. Now you think you can bypass them and cut them out of a fee for doing what they were asked to do?

If there was no contract, then how can either side know what was expected (price-wise). If this goes to court, it will be based on a VERBAL contract - and by the way the OP is talking, it sounds like there wasn't even enough substance to the deal to form any verbal contract.

 

[cbg]

What the agency is asking for is neither unusual nor unexpected. It is not their fault that neither of the other parties understood how such agencies work.

I agree that there is some question as to the rate, but I see absolutely no way the agency is not owed a fee of some sort for putting the client company and the applicant in touch with each other.