Bailing on contract early - payment with no signed timesheet

[ASB]

Fair point. But trying not to antagonise anyone....

Few weeks left now and Im being chased for something else. No intention of renewing where I am so dont want to miss out on this new one.

In an ideal world you would be able to negotiate a mutually agreeable change to manage your exit. In the absence of this all you can really do is hope for the best and run the risk of having to cope with the negative consequences - should they arise.

[BlasterBates]

If you bail out earlier they are entitled to damages.

This means if you were to immediately leave site you could be sued. If you stay a week then the damages will be less.

Whatever you decide they will be obliged to pay you, but they will be entitled to damages for breach of contract.

In the end you could end up in some messy dispute, where they withhold payment.

Personally I would advise seeing the contract through, and look for something a renewal time, as it wouldn't be worth the hassle. The new contract might look good, but could equally turn out to be a disappointment. They often do.

[ASB]

In the absence of any specific remedy in the contract they have to be able to quantify what those damages may be.

strictly they cannot withhold outstanding invoices as a lien against those potential damages. However if they do, what then.? The only way forward is for the op to launch their own action. This may cause a counter claim or a seperate action.

I would expect the op claim to have a decent chance of sucess. But whether it would be worth the effort and costs and risks is a different matter.

The problem with all these disputes is it boils down to:-

"You cant do that"
"We just did, your move"

In 1987 I left a contract in belgium due to a convoluted argument between the belgian subsidurary and the uk subsiduary which had large elements of control over it.

none of the invoices got paid so I went legal. So did they. But I knew they were on stick ground with their claim.

eventually a few thousand and 2 years later it ended up in court. I won my case completely, they lost theirs completely.

I never got a penny though since the agency immediately ceased trading. The paid most of their other debts though.

even winning can become pyrrhic.

[Wanderer]

If you bail out earlier they are entitled to damages.

Typically what the agency will try to do is to not pay you what they owe, claiming that their damages (co-incidentally) amount to the exact amount that they owe you.

However, if you don't opt out then they are legally obliged to pay you what they owe for time worked (even if the client refuses to sign timesheets or pay them) and they must pay this regardless of what they claim that you owe them in damages.

They can then demand that your company pays them back for damages incurred but they won't get anywhere because the contractor company can just refuse to pay, drag the case out with arguments and then close the company so the agency will get nothing (just as the agency did to ASB).

[kingcook]

The Agency Regulations do apply if your are direct.

Sorry to sound dumb, but how does that work exactly?

How can agency regulations apply when there is no agency?

[sal]

Already under active discussion in http://forums.contractoruk.com/busin...ce-period.html

Basically if you breach your contract by not giving the agreed notice, why do you expect the agency will act any differently and not withhold payment?

[Andy Hallett]

Sorry to sound dumb, but how does that work exactly?

How can agency regulations apply when there is no agency?

I am the dumb one, I meant to write they do not apply.

[kal]

Of course the agency should pay you if you've done the work and then pursue you through the legal system for redress if you breaching your contractual obligations has caused them financial loss but in practice they will just withhold (illegally I might add) your final payment as compensation and invite you to take them to court to get it. The two are quite distinct but until we have punitive measures in place (say the agency having to pay 200% of the final invoice if they withhold it in error) they will continue to do this.

[paulinefowlersgrowler]

But in practice will you get it? i.e. will they just try it on but as soon as you start being serious they'll cough up?

[tractor]

...

But in practice will you get it? i.e. will they just try it on but as soon as you start being serious they'll cough up?

In practice? All situations and circumstances are slightly different, including the amount and level of evidence of completion that you collate.

You have all the permutations, just make a decision and deal with the consequences.

At the end of the day, your OP indicates that you will have one week at risk. In the big scheme of things that might hurt but it doesn't seem hugely significant.