Termination without warning

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

I know it's common for you guys to be benched without any or with very little warning even though you may have notice periods built into the contracts - I assume that you wouldn't try to enforce that for fear of alienating the client or agency but that's only an assumption - would you say it's correct?

Thanks once again for everyone's help with all this - I will ask the mods if the response can be posted on here once the consultation is over so you can see how the information has been used.

[AJ1982]

Ive always worked on the premise I am an ad-hoc resource so only pay for the days I provide serivces to my client.

Notice periods do exist, but good old MOO (Mutuality of Obligation) wipes this out. So if they want me out the door today, see ya and sign that timesheet. (Never happened as a Contractor yet )

From a MOO perspective, I occasionally exercise a day off, normally with some notice. If a client decided the same, of course I would be obliging. Im a fair believer the clause works both ways until its apparent one side is taking the Michael and gives notice. No 3 day week for me then :P

This is something the "permies" dont understand, £xyz per day is great. But you are lower down on the "administration pecking order", god forbid, and you have to sort your own life out, pension, etc

[northernladuk]

MoO has absolutely nothing to do with notice periods or time off. Jesus wept.

[badger7579]

I usually insist on having a zero day notice period in the contract so the client can bin me at any point for any reason.

[The Spartan]

My first ever contract was terminated a month earlier than expected, I didn't kick up a fuss I just got about hunting for a new one. It wasn't expected the company just had to cut back financially and so it was cut short.

[northernladuk]

If clients understood their contracts better they wouldn't need to bugger about with notice periods.

[The Spartan]

If clients understood their contracts better they wouldn't need to bugger about with notice periods.

If they understood what we do better they wouldn't need to bugger around with agencies either

[northernladuk]

If they understood what we do better they wouldn't need to bugger around with agencies either

Don't quite agree with that. Agencies provide a service of managing contractors that clients don't want to bother with even if they did understand.. But let's park that for a different thread.

[northernladuk]

I would say Lisa is absolutely right. Many clients with a bit of planning can honour notice periods but in the cases they can't or won't there is little to be gained from taking action against instant termination, particularly when the no time sheet no payment clause trumps it. If there was a culture of trying to sue clients for unpaid notice they would become a lot smarter about the contracts and start withdrawing work a lot more often.

[b0redom]

I've only ever had one company terminate me early (but they've done it twice and both times due to budgetary constraints - letting numerous other contractors go at the same time). In both cases I was given the notice term as per the contract, but then I continued to turn up and work for that period.

I've personally never known anyone to be told, "Get out now. We're not paying your notice." even though strictly speaking it's possible due to MOO. If I was told that, I'd probably try it on and point at the clause in the contract, but wouldn't other to chase it.