A good friend of mine was up for a contract recently, and having passed the technical hurdles, he was sent the paperwork for the job (this was for a very large, well-known manufacturer, and was through a recruiting agency).

He read the contract, but had an issue with the part that said that in the event of a dispute between the agency and the manufacturer, he would be on the hook for all of the agency's legal fees. He communicated this to the agency, and their counter-offer was to suggest a full-time job instead.

That didn't happen (presumably because the two parties couldn't agree on a fee), so he was dropped from consideration.

I know about tilly's adventure, but .. being on the hook for someone else's legal fees? That's bizarre.

Has anyone else come across strangeness in employment contracts?