Obligation To Pay Finder's Fees

[cpana2001]

My question involves employment and labor law for the state of: OH

I had a 3 day project for some company let's say company "2"as a subcontractor for company "1'' and I signed a contract with company "1" that includes the section posted below . Now I want to apply for a job at company "2" with recomandations from someone I worked with in the 3 day project , is the folowing section preventing me to do this ?
"During the term of this Agreement and for a period of one year thereafter, Contractor agrees that it will immediately pay "1" finder's fee of $12,500.00 if : (a) Contractor or anyone acting on its behalf, directly or indirectly provides or advises another of the opportunity to provide,any services to a client introduced through "1"; o(b) Contractor or anyone a "1" acting on its behalf, directly or indirectly, retains or solicits for "1" itself or for another party, the services of any of the employees or other contractors introduced through .For purposes of this paragraph, “introduced through STAFFING FIRM” means where a client, employee, or other contractor came to the attention of Contractor in any manner through "1" . "Client" includes any affiliates, customers or clients of the Client"



During the term of this agreement and for a period of one year thereafter, Contractor and
its personnel will not solicit for employment, hire, contract with, or engage, either directly or
indirectly, the employment or services of any employee or contractor of "1" or its clients with whom Contractor or its personnel
have had contact, or about whom they have acquired knowledge, in the course of performing
under this agreement. If any particular individual provided through Contractor has worked
cumulatively for more than 1000 billed hours on Staffing Firm’s projects, then Staffing Firm
reserves the right, without fee, penalty or additional consideration to Contractor, to solicit or hire
that particular individual.

Please help me with this because is the first hiring oportunity in the last 6 months .

[Mr. Knowitall]

Your taking a job with a client of your employer may well trigger that finder's fee obligation. Run your contract past a lawyer to see if it is enforceable as written, and to confirm whether it applies to this job opportunity.