Can a contract employee work with the client directly?

Question

Most of the contract employees usually have a clause in their contracts stating that he/she may not be able to work with the end client directly. Is this legal? If yes, is there a work around?

Answer 1

Yes it is legal for the employer to set the terms of employment. No, there is no legal 'workaround' because the the clause is specifically included in the contract to prevent the employee from 'stealing' the client rather than going through the company itself..

Answer 2

The work around is usually in the contract too. It requires the client to pay the contractor agency a fee if they hire the employee. The fee is about the same dollar amount that the client would pay an employment agency to procure an employee.

The other work around is time. In the contract it will say that the client cannot hire the contract employee directly for a period of time. Usually the period of time is one year.