Termination Action as I complained about non-payment: Need help quick

**kingcook** · 13 October 2013, 11:09

Originally posted by pauly View Post

I have been getting all my time sheets rejected and marked as "Absent" even though I am in the office and very, very busy everyday.

Did alarm bells not start ringing when this started happening?

**BlasterBates** · 13 October 2013, 11:25

This is an unfortunate situation, but you need to chase the agency not the client.

What you should should have done/should do is chase the agency, i.e. bill them and then make sure you get paid. If the client won't approve the timesheets, complain to the agency and escalate with the agency. It's their job to sort it out, not yours.

Having not been paid you should inform the agency they're in breach of contract and then leave, politely informing the client that you're leaving because the agency hasn't paid. Sometimes there are administrative hiccups that delay payment, and you can give them some leeway, but if a client is refusing to approve a timesheet and the agency is refusing to pay because of that, that is the time to walk off site.

What you should do now is get in touch with agency (not the client) and demand payment. There's not a lot you can do about the termination, and it is doubtful that the contract will allow you to demand compensation. It looks like they've given you appropriate notice.

Always take your grievances to the agency not the client. That is what the agency is there for. Get mad at the agency, you can shout at him down the phone, but never get mad with the client.

**malvolio** · 13 October 2013, 11:31

Two fairly obvious questions...

Why in God's name do you want to stay at a client that will terminate you because of their cock up?

Why in God's name are you owed four month's payments? Anyone with a brain would complain the first time no money appeared.

You have a case for being paid, but even then they can claim you didn't follow due process and so breached your contract with the agency so they have no obligations to pay you until you do.

As for rights, the only ones you have are in your contract. One of them will be the right to be terminated immediately by the client for any cause. One of the joys of being a contractor; you aren't an employee (the clue is in the name) so you don't get that kind of protection.

I'm also guessing you're not a PCG member (who?) or you could give their legal helpline a call.

**pauly** · 13 October 2013, 11:41

Originally posted by kingcook View Post

Did alarm bells not start ringing when this started happening?

Of course Alarms bells rang, but was informed by people surrounding the Programme Manager that I should be patient and not make a noise and resolve it quietly.

The Head of the Programme was reputed as trigger happy.

I couldn't just rock up with timesheets and get them signed-off by the Programme manager. You had to be officially allocated to a project on the internal system and then the agency reconciles this against the contractor's submitted timesheets so they don't overpay you.

After 4 months I had to make the complaint and the outcome was a termination notice by the Programme manager when they realised this.

All other contractors within my department are allocated to a specific project. I have clearly been treated differently.

**craig1** · 13 October 2013, 11:44

Why are you bothering the client about you not getting paid? None of their business about payment, your contract is with the agency and you have all the power you need if you're not opted out.

Here's how I'd deal with it:
1. De-escalate with the client by non-confrontationally telling the client that you accept it's the agent's problem to fix. You are not contracted to the client, your legal responsibility is to and from the agency, transfer responsibility to the agent and get them to earn their margin in reclaiming their money. Important note, they're reclaiming their money not yours, they have to pay you even if they don't get paid. Also, accept that the relationship may be irredeemably screwed, if you have to leave then so be it, learn your lesson for next time.

2. Ensure you have hard copies of at least one thing from every billable day to prove you were working. Ideally meeting minutes with attendees listed but email conversations (two-way) should do. If you have an active calendar then a copy of that would be good. You don't have to prove what you did 9-5 but the more the better. This makes it impossible for an agency caught by the Conduct regulations to legally deny you payment. Legally, you don't need this but it's just common sense that the more evidence you have, the better your case and the easier it is for you to get paid.

3. Start dunning the agency. Search the forum for how to do this. If they simply refuse to pay then you've a very easy win in the courts if you can prove on the balance of probabilities that you did the work billed, the agency regs are all on your side.

4. You can't sue the client, you can sue the agency. If they decide tomorrow that they don't want you on site because you're ugly, ginger or scouse then they can, they can even kick you out for any of the normally legally protected discrimination points. Your only recourse is against the agency for contractual breaches but it's highly likely the contract is that they'll only pay for days you work meaning no real "notice" in the way you think an employee should have. If the agency then wants to sue on your behalf then they can but you're more likely to be appointed Prime Minister tomorrow than that happening.

5. Next contract get your billing and accounts receivable working properly. If you're on weekly billing, get timesheets signed on Friday afternoon before you leave. If you're on monthly billing, get in the habit of sending an email to your timesheet approver every Friday with the work you're billing for that week, that means a month later when you're filling in your monthly timesheet neither of you have to hurt your brains thinking back a whole month to a specific date. Play nicely with agents on timesheets if you're not opted out until you're sure you're getting screwed around, usually when you're fighting to get your first one approved a couple of weeks after the due date. Get your invoices in on the same day you get your timesheet signed. If the client refuses to sign actual timesheets then inform the agency that you're invoking the Conduct regs on paying you, invoice appropriately and put the pressure on the agency rather than the client.

**pauly** · 13 October 2013, 12:07

Originally posted by malvolio View Post

Two fairly obvious questions...

Why in God's name do you want to stay at a client that will terminate you because of their cock up?

Why in God's name are you owed four month's payments? Anyone with a brain would complain the first time no money appeared.

Because your are told that its the contractors fault and you have to be fully allocated to projects. I then have to spend weeks chasing authorisation in order to get allocations to projects which then never transpires (the managers of those projects do not want you billing to their project codes as it impacts their budgets). Even if you get part allocation - half of your time to a project - the timesheet is then rejected the following week as its not a full allocation.

Originally posted by malvolio View Post

You have a case for being paid, but even then they can claim you didn't follow due process and so breached your contract with the agency so they have no obligations to pay you until you do.

As for rights, the only ones you have are in your contract. One of them will be the right to be terminated immediately by the client for any cause. One of the joys of being a contractor; you aren't an employee (the clue is in the name) so you don't get that kind of protection.

I'm also guessing you're not a PCG member (who?) or you could give their legal helpline a call.

I reviewed the Opt-in and Opt-out contracts before taking the contract. The Opt-in contract had the section indicating that the Agency does not have to pay you without a timesheet removed.

The Agency Regs offers protections to a contractor for non-payment...

The Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003 - Freelance Advisor
"Under the Regulations an Employment Agency or Business cannot:
Withhold payments or wages due to temporary work-seekers (even if they haven’t been paid by the end hiring organisation or have no timesheet authorised by the hirer;"

At the end of the day, I should not have to do the running around which is deeply stressful in order to get paid.

I am more concerned about the termination notice which is due to the complaints about non-payment.

This is morally wrong - but I am curious to know if there are any protections around retaliation of this kind.

I could get a contractor role with another department if I can stop the termination.

**northernladuk** · 13 October 2013, 15:03

Originally posted by pauly View Post

* Can I fight the termination due to my non-payment compliant?

No. You can negotiate with them to have it cancelled and then continue as normal but other than that you are a flexible resource with absolutely zero employment rights and then can terminate when they want for whatever reason they want.

The fact that you think you can move to another department if you can get this withdrawn sounds very troubling to me. Moving about internally for a client under the same contract??? IR35

If there is more work at the client let this contract terminate and then just go get a new contract with the new area. You are not an employee you are a contractor.... whether they will have you after this carry on is a different matter.

**centurian** · 13 October 2013, 16:53

Originally posted by pauly View Post

At the end of the day, I should not have to do the running around which is deeply stressful in order to get paid.

This is morally wrong - but I am curious to know if there are any protections around retaliation of this kind.

For employees yes, there are lots of protections. For contractors there are virtually none. It's a business-to-business transaction. Your only protection is the ability to sue those with whom you have the contract with, if they have breached the terms.

**CheeseSlice** · 13 October 2013, 17:08

Whilst I agree with the others about the contract being with the agent and therefore it is them the OP should nag for payment, I've generally had wording in my contracts that I must obtain timesheets from the clientco in order to get paid. For this the clientco still has a responsibility to the contractor to approve timesheets in a timely manner, and certainly not 'LIE' about his/her presence on site. This is truly shameful.

What is also shameful is this part:

Of course Alarms bells rang, but was informed by people surrounding the Programme Manager that I should be patient and not make a noise and resolve it quietly.

You really shouldn't accept this type of brush off. Clientco's who haven't got their project codes sorted out or who are hiding behind their disorganised processes or cumerbsome time tracking systems can't also use them as an excuse. They should just sign a hardcopy timesheet whilst they get that sorted out, rather than either stalling or in your case writing blatant lies and rejecting them.

I find this whole thing really difficult to believe, you've stuck it out for 4 months when on one hand they're telling you to calm down, don't make a fuss, sort this out later, but on the other they're denying you've done any work for them. I can't think of any logical reason why anyone would accept that.

Termination Action as I complained about non-payment: Need help quick