Do you still pay a recruiter their commission if they leave the company?

I recently had an employee leave my company and he is still due half his commission check for a placement. What is the industry standard on paying out the remaining commission if an employee leaves? PLEASE ADVISE!

Comment by Joshua Lee on August 4, 2012 at 1:20am: Amy - that's called defamation / trade libel. If he went around doing that and that resulted in some kind of loss of reputation or actual money....that guy doing the talking is in serious trouble.

Comment by Sandra McCartt on August 4, 2012 at 3:19am: That would be true Josh, if you could measure and prove the loss. The problem remains that one may never know of a great recruiter they might have hired or the client who never picked up the phone because of something they heard about commissions not being paid. However if it were true that he was not paid commission due isn't truth a solid and total defense against slander, libel and defamation?

As to your previous comments, " That one little detail alone kind of kills everything that you had going for you not to pay him."

That would be why i would pay him from the heart. :)

Comment by Professional Recruitment Resourc on August 4, 2012 at 10:58am: Total compensation should be paid, as earned, upon receipt of payment. With long-term employees/associates the issue of replacement due to guarantee is handled by the same person who made the placement. If a recruiter has resigned/termed then firm can pay upon completion of the guarantee period.

Comment by Bill Schultz on August 4, 2012 at 2:43pm: @josh- not if it's true. Which in this case, it would be. The recruiter could post on glass door and f'd company and yelp without fear of repercussion.

Pay the guy. I've paid people who deserved it less thanh him. Usually on splits

Comment by lisa rokusek on August 4, 2012 at 2:54pm: The long play is almost always better to pay out than get into a mud wrasslin' situation.

Hell with all this effort you could have closed two more deals.

Pay it, move on, and remove any possibility of him bad mouthing you. The high road beckons.

Comment by Joshua Lee on August 4, 2012 at 3:22pm: Re Defamation: yes truth is the ultimate defense but understand what that means. He can't go around saying "bad things" about the ex employer which result in either a) loss of reputation or b) loss of business opportunities. Just like all things in law, everything must be proven. To Sandra's point, yes truth is a defense but what truth? Who's truth? Its a slippery slope.

@Bill those are forums for review and don't count. I'm talking about someone who talks about to specifically harm the business. Also, its still a gray area. Yelp takes down some bad reviews if you pay them money. I bet you didn't know that. Look at yelp reviews on yelp. I have some on there myself.

Anyway.... like I said way early on, knowing exactly the type of responses this posting was going to get. It requires thorough investigation and he is not going to get the answer he wants here.

Comment by Bill Schultz on August 4, 2012 at 5:18pm: @Joshua- I know it all. People even call me that sometimes.

Comment by Gabriel Bachove on August 5, 2012 at 1:26pm: Thank you for all whom responded. It is always appreciated to get everyone's point of view. I am a fair individual and will pay monies due. To respond to a couple comments. Said employee gave a 6 week notice with his resignation letter on a Friday, in which, I did not grant the notice, but parted ways on that Monday! If anyone that answered has not owned their own agency then your view has a totally different view point. Yes, there are laws and contracts put in place for a reason, but I also believe in morality. I have always been a hard worker to be where I am and function my work ethics on the highest of standards, even though, most people do not! Saying that, the agencies that have a no pay policy if you leave or are fired, I can understand that point of view as an owner just because I know what it feels like to be taken advantage of- plus there is a huge difference between quitting and being. Everything is situational. Now what it really comes downs to is the fact that said employee quit and has signed a 1 year non compete clause to not enter into the same line of recruiting. I have to trust that will be honored.

Comment by Bill Schultz on August 5, 2012 at 1:43pm: Hi Gabriel- Good that you're going to pay the guy. Sometimes our sense of morality clashes with legalities, which tend to be on the side of the employee. The fact that he gave a 6 week notice is really odd. I don't know what he hoped to gain. Of course you were not going to let someone stay there for 6 weeks. Non-competes are also hard to enforce (unenforceable in CA) unless he is actually farming your client or candidate database. But, the guy doesn't sound like an Ace, based on the 6 week thing and the fact that you didn't fight to keep him. I wouldn't spend many cycles on this.

Comment by Russ Recruits on August 6, 2012 at 10:55am: There are huge differences between europe and the states on this - over here you would have no choice but to pay.

You can also make a staff member sign a clause not to re-enter the market if they left your employment - you just dont have a cats chance in hell of enforcing it over here as it is a restriction on your ability to trade.

I never understand why employers take this view - if they were still employed you would pay up - the fact they have left shouldnt change that.

Pay up - move on and expect to bump into them again either way.