I'm currently having an issue with a consulting firm and curious about your take on this.

Although I primarily recruit for sales as an employee of my company, I am also asked to recruit for any senior level positions and IT. I have very successfully placed people in these positons in my prior life but was having difficulty with an SAP position for a variety of different reasons- the big one being that most of the candidates were here on a H1B which the COO wanted to avoid.

Finally, I spoke with a lady that I really liked. After getting her in for a interview we found out that the company she "worked" for was a consulting compnay that had sponsored her. She had been in the US 6 months and they had not placed her so she was trying to find employment on her own. Shame on me for not realizing this sooner but we all make mistakes. The cliff note version of the ensuing events: I contacted the company, they tell me fees, I fall off my chair (50k), we walk away, she keeps calling, reconnect with company, long negotiations which culminated in an agreement of a 6 month contract and then she was free to become our employee.

We are one month away from having her perm, sponsorship transfer has been approved and she lays this one on us. The consulting company says that if she doesn't fulfill her contract with them she has to pay 10k which she does not have! So now our choice is ante up 10k, ride out the contract for another 6 months at a ridiculous fee or wash our hands of it all together and start over which would be the definition of stupidity. I think in some way she pulled a fast one on us but I'll give her a pass-she was desperate. What irritates me is that this company knew when they went into an agreement with us that this would create a problem. From a legal standpoint, I know it's two different contracts. From an business ethics standoint, what they did was wrong! Opinions?