Pagoda Partners, a Singapore-based recruiter, is suing the British bank Barclays after allegedly referring a high-level candidate from Merrill Lynch but never receiving its fee.
According to the lawsuit, Pagoda sent Barclays the candidate’s resume in January 2009.
However, attorneys for Barclays say the new employee — who earned $348,000 in his first year — was hired as a direct referral after Pagoda failed to set up a meeting, according to the court filing. The attorneys say there was never any agreement for the engagement of Pagoda’s services, court documents reveal.
Barclays says it typically pays search firms between 10%-18% of annual compensation for new hires, with a cap of $123,000.