Abusive recruiter threatens to withhold pay if employee does not sign new contract

May 5, 1:11 PMPortland Unemployment ExaminerSusan Tait

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Like all abusive relationships, abusive recruitment thrives on secrecy and fear. Like other errors of judgment from sexual harassment to domestic violence, workplace bullying depends upon the bully's success at focusing your attention on the unmeasurable risk of retribution. Only by distracting you this way can the workplace bully prevent you from noticing the risk they are running with bad behavior.

The three stories that follow are grouped this way because they raised some questions that were consistent with most of your responses to date.

Pattern? Or coincidence?

1. C--- ,  a local recruiter, has repeatedly run into candidates who say that they can only work with a certain supplier.
2. Q--, a local recruiter, has called many candidates for her biggest clients. They are telling her that they can't talk to her because they signed a contract that said they can only work for their last supplier.
3. E---, a contractor,  was halfway into a one-year contract when the recruiter who employed her said that her employment forms were't in order. If the forms were not in order, payroll could not be processed. (The forms were not tax forms. The claim referred to the employment contract.) The new contract terms specified that E could not do similar work for a whole year in the field after the contract was over and that E couldn't discuss any issue in any "public web forum." 

Threat Taxonomy #1: "You'd better sign this or we can't pay you"

Threat to E: We won't pay you what we said we were going to. (We can't find out own forms or figure out how to keep paying you while we figure out where we left the forms.) And you can't tell anyone else that we did this.

E's Response: E attached her own copies of the employment agreement forms and sent them. E did not sign the new forms.

Oregon Employment Department's Response at the time: None. A follow-up by the contractor resulted in the Oregon Employment Department saying, in effect, "we're too swamped to deal with this, talk to BOLI."

Portland Unemployment Examiner's Observation: I believe the valid questions are these:

1. "Can a recruiter refuse to pay or threaten to refuse to pay an employee on a contract once that contract has been accepted by both sides and the employee is in good standing with the client?" 
2. "Who do you call at BOLI if a recruiter tries to coerce you into signing away civil rights?"
3. "How can a lay person recognize an employment contract's unenforceable clauses?"

Advice from the Inbox

Of email received on this issue, the best advice (usually offered after a war story about other abusive behaviors):

• "I don't answer calls from 201, 800, area codes I don't recognize, or any that say restricted or unavailable. If you don't want me to see your phone number, there probably is a good reason not to talk to you."
• "Everybody has a competitor. Cultivate your local recruiters. They have to deal with you if you show up in person."

Best Google Finds of the Day

• Contract law written in plain language...and with a bit of attitude. Not the same as the legal code, but written in a way that ordinary mortals can read.
• Forbes article on 10 Signs You're Being Bullied at Work
• NY Unions may waive member rights to a jury in employment discrimination cases...this is a long way from the 9th Circuit, where Oregon is, but does it set a precedent?

Research continues.