Jump to content

Employment contract advice


RosieH

Recommended Posts

Does anyone know if exclusion clauses in a work contract are enforceable.


I'm a contractor at an agency at the moment. My client no longer wants to work with the agency, but has approached me about going to work for them in-house instead.


My contract stipulates that I can't work with clients for 6 months after leaving - it's been suggested to me by someone in HR (externally) that this is unenforceable, but I'd like to make sure before I burn bridges / get horribly sued.


Or does anyone know, or know where I could get fast and inexpensive legal advice? Would love to take the job, but not at the risk of my career.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have been in this position before. I know Im stating the obvious here but As the client employed you through the agency it is important to ensure he is clear and open about his intention to employ you directly. We agreed a placement fee with the agency and everyone was happy.


I would imagine there will be a payment involved so hopefully the employer is happy to pay it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had a similar situation. Went to work for my current employers. Agency were not too happy but think they just had to suck it up in the end.


I actually felt quite bad as was on friendly terms with the agency owner, but as she said, the contract was with my new employer so her beef was with them not me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Lowlander.


Tradesman, I'm not sure it would be so straightforward - would be a dream if so. They're making a decision between employing me, or staying with an agency (i.e. not looking to recruit someone else for in-house) - so it could be construed that I've "stolen" business from my current agency.


And Otta, yeah, I hear you. Unfortunately, in this situation, I'm the one with the contract, and my client gets away scot free!


Think a solicitor is probably the way to go.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A specialist solicitor will give you proper advice based on the actual terms, but these provisions are common in agency contracts (and there will be a term in the client's contract with the agency either prohibiting them from employing you, or providing for a fee if they do, or both), and there are often disputes about whether they are enforceable at all, or to what extent. It's unlikely you're going to get advice that is definitive, and by far the best way to resolve these sort of problems is by agreement. Unless there has been a serious breakdown in the relationship between agency and client there's no reason why a commercial solution can't be negotiated - the reason these terms are common is because the situation arises all the time.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, thanks Dave. Unfortunately, the client isn't under contract with any restriction clauses in place - only I am. So it's all going to be my own risk.


Just going to have to bite the bullet and fork out the few hundred to get legal advice.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Each case is likely to be different but I had to go through exactly the same process ? and many of the factors appear to be similar


In my case, the agency had me with the same client for a long time, to the extent that the agency and I no longer saw eye to eye on ?priorities?. The once-strong tie between them and the client had also weakened.


So when the time came for me to try and move across, nobody was positioned to be ?helpful?


But rather than engage solicitors, I sat down and had a heart to heart with my agency and said they had earned X out of me over Y years, this was a rare opportunity and would they consider overlooking the 6 month clause in the contract


Not sure what would have happened had they played hard-ball, but they agreed to go along with it

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Strafer. Similar in the client / agency situation, but unfortunately in the me / agency situation, I've been here less than a year, and am on a freelance contract. So they're unlikely to look kindly on my move.


And Mick, that's what I'm wondering. I know they're not above suing generally (though clients for unpaid work that wasn't yet contracted, rather than staff).


Also, if they did sue me, I'm not sure what they could get - I'm pretty much penniless. But I don't know if they could sue to prevent my working with the client.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"But I don't know if they could sue to prevent my working with the client."


Yes - the normal remedy for enforcing these type of clauses is an injunction. I think I may have misunderstood the reference to 'agency' in your original post as meaning a recruitment/temp agency, but it sounds like that's not the case, in which case it's not surprising that the client is not bound by any contractual terms. This type of term is known as a 'non-dealing' restriction (as opposed to non-compete and non-solicitation) and they are generally a bit more difficult to enforce because the risk to the employer's business is less obvious, but this is not my field so don't rely on that!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Restrictive covenants such as this are enforceable provided reasonable.


The client can be sued despite no contractual clause, for inducing your breach of contract. For this to be valid they need actual knowledge but that can be as simple as the agency writing to them telling them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Latest Discussions

    • Plenty for sale online from various ticket vendors but you'll need to part with £250 and upwards by the looks of it. Out of interest i kept an eye on the prices for the England and Italy Euro final. At one point they were on offer for a couple of grand each. On the day sellers were obviously getting itchy feet and prices dropped somewhat but never went any lower than £400. That was a few hours before kick off. There was plenty still available half an hour before kick off.   Having been to Wembley a couple of times for play off finals i found it to be not a great place to watch football. Sat three rows back from the pitch side advertising hoardings for one game and way way up in the gods for the other. We felt to far away from the pitch on both occasions. Up in the goods was just stupid because we felt cut off as well.  I don't think it was rebuilt with acoustics in mind either. Even with most of our 25k fans singing it never sounded loud because it's pretty much uncovered and too open.   Happy hunting!
    • It doesn't work as a commercial venture.  Bit churlish to say I told you so.  I told you so.  I'll send less greetings cards.  What pees me off is international postage where you can no longer send light letters at 10 grammes, normal ones up to 20g, now all at the much more expensive 100 g  Didn't we vote to take back control and price everything according to irrational units like ounces? That's some obscure humour btw   
    • Available from Monday April 8th 2024, 2on2Walkies take pride in doggie care and only walk 2 furry friends at a time. I make sure that they get plenty of doggie interaction and socialisation in the park as well as making friends. Back home happy and tired I always check that the water bowl has fresh water and always make sure the doggie is left comfortable before I leave. I'm fully insured and have a couple of slots available for local walks to either Peckham Rye Park or Dulwich Park.  Thank you!  
    • Why would they only send them recorded delivery? I used the signed for option yesterday.
Home
Events
Sign In

Sign In



Or sign in with one of these services

Search
×
    Search In
×
×
  • Create New...