I recently responded to an employment advertisement posted by a
recruiter. The recruiter submitted my resume to the employer. When I
tried to negotiate a firm hourly rate, the recruiter said that it
would be based on my performance in the telephone interview. I
performed very well in the telephone interview and the employer asked
me to come for a personal interview. I asked the recruiter again to
commit for a firm hourly rate. The recruiter took it up one more notch
and said that it would be based on performance in the personal
interview with the employer. I was frustrated over the idea of showing
up for a final interview without knowing how much I was going to be
paid. Nevertheless, I took a chance because the employer was a
top-notch company. I attended the personal interview where the
employer grilled me with a wide range of technical questions related
to my job. I again did very well. After the interview was over I gave
the recruiter my target rate and asked her not to bother me if she
could not meet it. Since that telephone call she re-initiated the
negotiation and kept flip-flopping over the rate. Needless to say the
number of times she was "very rude and brash" during the negotiation
process. I was still persistent because the project and the employer
were great. Finally she agreed on an hourly rate that was within my
target. I requested her to give me one day time so that I could
discuss with my wife and then give a formal "Okay". After discussing
with my wife, I called the recruiter the next day to accept the offer.
The recruiter again changed the hourly rate. I was totally frustrated
over the way she was treating me and taking my career for granted. It
was just too much of mental torture for me. I finally called the
employer directly and mentioned that I was being treated in a very
rude and unprofessional manner by the recruiter. When the recruiter
learnt that I contacted the employer directly, she sent me a stinking
email asking me not to contact the employer directly. She also
mentioned that she was going to have her attorney contact me. I was
rather shocked because I never signed any binding agreement with
anyone and I figured I had a right to tell the employer directly about
the way my career move was taken for granted and also the way I was
mentally overwhelmed because of constant flip-flopping by the
recruiter.

Bottomline: I have never had to deal with an attorney in my life. If
the
recruiter's attorney calls me, what do I do. Should I hire an
employment
attorney ?? What offence did I commit ( I did not sign any binding
agreement with any party involved ?)

Any advice please!!

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Request for Question Clarification by mvguy-ga on 18 Jan 2003 13:32 PST

Which state or other jurisdiction did this happen in?  Did you make
any verbal agreement with the recruiter, or were you ever provided
with information about the recruiter's applicable policies?  (A
contract doesn't always have to be in writing or be signed to be
binding.)  Know this information might help me or someone else provide
an answer.  If you know what arrangement the recuiter has with the
employer that might also help.  Thanks!

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Clarification of Question by alwaysoptimistic-ga on 19 Jan 2003 05:20 PST

This happened in the state of North Carolina.

No, I did not make any verbal agreement with the recruiter.
The recruiter did not provide me any information about applicable
policies.

I believe the recruiter has a binding agreement with the employer.
Not very sure about the nature of agreement.

Stangely enough Google is not providing me with an "Answer" button, so
I'll put it in this comment:

-If the recruiter's attorney calls me, what do I do? 

A: Ask the attorney to describe verbally, and then in writing, the
legally actional claim (if any) this recruiter has against you.
Typically any type of claim that could possibly stem from the scenario
you describe would be a breach of contract, governed by state law. In
short, you ask the attorney for this information to distinguish
whether your recruiter is merely threatening you, with no legal
justification, or if she has enough a legitimate claim that she would
pay money to her attorney to pursue this, even via phone with you.
Based on the scenario you describe there does not appear to be a
actionable claim.

Should I hire an employment attorney ?? 
-A: The nature of the claims against you by the recruiter, if they
even exist, relate to contract law, while employment attorneys
typically handle cases of discrimination, unfair termination,
compensation, all of which pertain to the hiring corporation, not the
relationship between recruiter and recruitee. Furthermore, it is
unclear if she has any legitimate, actionable legal claim against you.
Most people would only discuss with an attorney, after they actually
can see documented actionable legal claims against you. Most people,
would not bother contacting an attorney until the probability that
this would go to court is high.

What offence did I commit ( I did not sign any binding
agreement with any party involved ?)
A: Unless there was a written contract or explicit verbal agreement
between you and the recruiter to not directly contact the employer,
there appears to be no legally actionable offense.