Employment agency want to charge employer full years pay to take me on full time.

[MrZandos]

Hi, I wonder if anyone can give me advice.

I have been with an employment agency for a while and this week they got me a 3 week job with an employer who needed cover as the previous person had resigned and they needed someone whilst they looked for a permanent replacement, I have proved to my future boss I am hard working, can do the job and that I am trustworthy.

He offered me the job today but said I would have to go through the interview, he called his boss to tell him when it all went wrong, they had never used an employment agency before and it turns out that if they give me a full time permanent position they have to pay the employment agency a full years wages on top of paying my wages as it was a clause in the contract.

I was wondering if it is possible to set up as a sole trader and my would be employer employs/hires my firm and my firm provide the staff "me", and I pay my own taxes/NI.

Is this a legal loophole we could use? I really want this job, its good pay and close to home (3 mins on a push bike), Im fed up of working for employment agencies.

Any advice would be appreciated,

Thanks.

[Johnboy007]

Re: Employment agency want to charge employer full years pay to take me on full time.

Get the new employer to employ you for the three weeks then leave.
Don't tell the agency about permanent offer.
Wait a week or so, then apply for a job in your own right.:tinysmile_twink_t2:

[MrZandos]

Re: Employment agency want to charge employer full years pay to take me on full time.

Wish it was that easy, they got them and me over a barrel

[Johnboy007]

Re: Employment agency want to charge employer full years pay to take me on full time.

Wish it was that easy, they got them and me over a barrel

Agencies are subject to a number of regulations. For example, they:

• can't charge you a fee
• can't make you use fee-paying services as a requirement for finding you work like CV writing
• can't stop you from taking a permanent job with a company where you temped (there are also limits on the fees they can charge the company which are sometimes called 'temp to perm' fees)
• have to give you written terms and conditions
• can't stop you registering with other agencies

Temp-to-perm and temp-to–temp fees

You can charge these as long as the hirer has first had the option to have the worker supplied for a set period. After this the worker can transfer without a fee.
Where the hirer opts for a set period, you must supply the worker for all of this time unless prevented from doing this for reasons that aren’t your fault.
The supply terms can’t be worse for the hirer than those before the hirers opted for the set hire period.
You can only charge transfer fees if the transfer takes place within whichever is later out of:

• 14 weeks from the start of the first assignment with the hirer
• 8 weeks from the end of any assignment
  

If there’s been more than one assignment with a break of more than 42 days between assignments the later assignment is then taken as the first assignment.

So if you do not start work within eight weeks of leaving the three week position, the agency cannot charge the new company any fees.

Copy this link and show it to the new employer...
https://www.gov.uk/employment-agenci...-transfer-fees

[mystery1]

Re: Employment agency want to charge employer full years pay to take me on full time.

Sounds like a penalty clause and potentially restriction of trade.

M1

[Johnboy007]

Re: Employment agency want to charge employer full years pay to take me on full time.

Sounds like a penalty clause and potentially restriction of trade.

M1

There is a limit on the fees they can charge.
So I reckon if the new employer would offer the agency eight weeks fees, they may very well take it.
Or they could wait for eight weeks and employ Mr Zandos, and pay the agency nothing

[MrZandos]

Re: Employment agency want to charge employer full years pay to take me on full time.

Thanks for the link and info, I will get my current boss' email address tomorrow and let him know. They need someone to start as soon as possible after my 3 weeks stint, so if it is only 8 or 14 weeks of fees they can charge by law, is there a limit on what the fee can be and if its affordable I would volunteer to have this deducted from my wages. Just hate the uncertainty of being a temp

[Johnboy007]

Re: Employment agency want to charge employer full years pay to take me on full time.

Thanks for the link and info, I will get my current boss' email address tomorrow and let him know. They need someone to start as soon as possible after my 3 weeks stint, so if it is only 8 or 14 weeks of fees they can charge by law, is there a limit on what the fee can be and if its affordable I would volunteer to have this deducted from my wages. Just hate the uncertainty of being a temp

Well the fees cannot be charged if they employ you after eight weeks have passed since you finished the three weeks temp employment. Or 14 weeks after you start your temp employment.
So the company could in effect keep you on and after 14 weeks they would not have to pay the agency any fees.
They certainly wouldn't have to pay a years fees.

What an agency can’t do:
**
Cannot withhold payment of wages to you because of your failure to produce a signed timesheet (but an employment business does have the opportunity to satisfy itself that you have actually worked).
**
If they employ you under a contract for service, you cannot be penalised for ending an assignment.
**
Can’t stop you from taking a permanent job with a company where you temped, and they can only charge a fee to the company in limited circumstances (sometimes called ‘temp to perm’ fees).
**
Your agency cannot stop you registering with other agencies.