Fee Objection: ‘You Misrepresented the Candidate’s Qualifications’

Jeff Allen, the world’s leading placement lawyer, has collected more placement fees, litigated more trade secret cases, and assisted more placement practitioners than anyone else.  He’s also the author of 24 books and a regular columnist for The Fordyce Letter, one of the leading publications in the recruiting industry.

Below is Allen’s latest collection tip for recruiters who want to overcome a particular fee objection with one of their clients:

What the Client Says:

“You misrepresented the candidate’s qualifications.”

How the Client Ends Up Paying:

By continuing to employ the candidate, the client is waiving (relinquishing) its right to allege a misrepresentation (or even just a breach of the placement contract).

Invariably, the story is that:

1. You negligently didn’t discover some falsified degree or job on the candidate’s resume, or

2. You intentionally concealed something you knew about this falsification or discovered independently.

But by that continued employment of the candidate, the employer is then estopped  (stopped or prevented)  from asserting the misrepresentation.

Of course, that assumes:

1. The candidate wasn’t fired within a month or so after the misrepresentation.  If he or she wasn’t, the employer implied that it liked him or her, anyway.  The employer can’t have it both ways.

2. There was a material misrepresentation (something job-related that directly induced the employer to hire).

There’s so much misrepresentation in the hiring process anyway, so rarely do inflated credentials, deflated skeletons, or mere inaccuracies constitute grounds for termination.  Besides, the client has to deal with the next candidate’s misrepresentations!  (Statistically: 80% of the time.)

So truly, this is a full fee scenario!

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In addition to being the world’s leading placement lawyer, Jeff Allen is also a guest writer for the Top Echelon Recruiter Training Blog.  He can be reached via telephone at 310.559.6000 or via email at jeff@placementlaw.com.  Know how to collect your well-earned placement fees?  Test yourself!  Visit Allen’s Placement Law website and click the “Placement Fee Collection Quiz” button.