Agency not paying on time

[cojak]

..and remember, you'll probably be well out of that contract and in another one by the time they should be paying the last of your invoices - and how likely do you think they will, when the threat of withdrawal of your services no longer exists?

It's completely unacceptable - you need to think of your business. What on earth do they expect you to live on for those 10 months?? Living on your warchest while you are in contract? What if you haven't got one that big. Again, it is absolutely outrageous!! You are paying them for the privilege of working.

Go to Bauer and Cottrell and Thomas Higgins and get it sorted asap. Seriously consider whether you need to end this contract without further exposure to risk.

[MarillionFan]

No thats seriously unacceptable.

I would

1) Phone and ask to speak to my agent
2) Make a point about breach of contract
3) Intimate that you believe they may have cash flow problems and this is a concern.
4) Mention that you may have to discuss this with HR/your boss at ClientCo
5) Mention if (3) then you may need to have a discussion about a winding up order
6) Do a larger posting on CUK asking if this is across the board.
7) Threaten to withdraw labour

I once had a company partially do this to me. They were not getting paid quicker enough by the client and kept telling me they couldnt pay me until I got paid. I went and sort audience with the Recruitment team at Clientco and told them I was concerned that agency may go under. They just bought me in direct.

[ratewhore]

I'll stick my oar in too.

First, what does your contract say?

Second, if there are no provisions for this in the contract (which I can't see for the life of me why there would be), legislation allows for 30 days to be used as standard payment terms. So, go to http://www.payontime.co.uk and follow their guidance.

Essentially, if they have not paid an invoice within 30 days, and there are no explicit payment terms in your contract, you can send them a letter detailing a penalty and interest, which racks up daily. This is the law, I have used it before, and I got it paid.

Finally, if it were me, I would be looking for a new gig or, at least, looking to take the agency out of the equation.

[wantacontract]

hmm, I've just been contacted by Harvey Nash for a role.....but it wasn't what i was looking for...

man, I'll be jumping up and down if I was told to wait for 10 months!

[TheFaQQer]

My agency (Harvey Nash) has sent me an email saying they don't intend to pay on time as specified in the contract, and that I may have to wait for up to ten months for money they have agreed to pay in around two weeks.

What's the best procedure for dealing with this?

I presume that they are not in breach of contract just by sending an email, so I would have to wait until a payment is actually late before I do anything. Then they would be in breach of contract.

Apart from making noises at this stage, there is nothing that you can do legally until they are in breach. Start now, though, and check what your rights will be if they do breach the contract. Speak to the agency, speak to the client, read the contract - can you give notice?

Should I just stop working then, or should I send them a letter saying that If I don't receive payment in a certain number of days or I will consider the contract as terminated.

Delay in payment is probably not a sufficient enough breach to be able to terminate the contract - it depends on whether it's a breach of conditions or a breach of warranty. If you stop working, then there is a chance that they could come after you for breach of contract, which isn't quite what you want.

What happens regarding notice periods? I assume that I won't have to give them a month's notice if they are not fulfilling their side of the contract.

I wouldn't assume anything without speaking to a lawyer - if you are in the PCG then speak to their legal helpline.

[nobby]

OK, so you guys don't waste too much time worrying about this - you are indeed missing some background info. Towards end of 2009 UBS in Switzerland 'forced' a large group of contractors to work though HN as a single payrolling agency. The contract they were presented with included strange concepts such as witholding of a percentage of earnings so that it could be used to 'pay' for public holidays, holidays etc. and enforced purchase of sickpay insurance. The detailed terms of some of this were not written into the contract, but communicated verbally - many contractors did not like what had been communicated, some appear to have misunderstood, but many signed anyway. The OP appears to be referring to the witholding of earnings (approx.3.4%) that is for payment of public holidays - ordinarily a contractor may expect to earn nothing on a public holiday, but HN like to withold this percentage then 'pay' the public holiday from it to appear to be more compliant with Swiss law which says public holidays should be paid. Unfortunately, their decision initially (which is currently under review) was that if they paid that witholding during the period of the contract, it would cause problems (irregularity of holidays across the year etc), so they proposed payment of public holidays only at contract or year end. This I think is what the OP is complaining about - although he's really just trying to whip up a storm of discontent regarding HN, hence the lack of transparency in his post. I don't wish to defend HN (they appear to be rather in a muddle in zurich at least) but you shouldn't take this complaint out of context.

[hugebrain]

OK....

Are you retarded? Since you seem so keen on putting up other people's private details, why not post my home address on the internet as well?

I thought they were keeping back 6-7 weeks' pay until the end of the year - if it's less than that then it might not be too bad.

[PAH]

If you stop working, then there is a chance that they could come after you for breach of contract

Not sure if that's true, can't remember seeing a clause in any of my contracts saying I had to 'work', just that if I did 'work' they would pay x for an amount of my time until date y.

Certainly up till now I've had no problems telling the agency after the event when I've had holidays or 'time off', obviously informing the client beforehand where possible.

Maybe I'm a contractor and not a temp or disguised employee.

From what I know if I failed to turn up to the client site without informing them they could claim breach of contract with the agency.

I certainly wouldn't continue 'working' if there was any doubt about the agency paying me, I've been taken for that mug once and there won't be a second time.

[TheFaQQer]

One extra thing to check (depending on whether other comments in this thread are true or not) is what the applicable law is - most contracts have a clause that removes any ambiguity, e.g. "This contract shall be governed by the law of England and Wales".

Not knowing what the jurisdiction is might make any advice here completely irrelevant.

[TheFaQQer]

Not sure if that's true, can't remember seeing a clause in any of my contracts saying I had to 'work', just that if I did 'work' they would pay x for an amount of my time until date y.

Certainly up till now I've had no problems telling the agency after the event when I've had holidays or 'time off', obviously informing the client beforehand where possible.

Maybe I'm a contractor and not a temp or disguised employee.

From what I know if I failed to turn up to the client site without informing them they could claim breach of contract with the agency.

I certainly wouldn't continue 'working' if there was any doubt about the agency paying me, I've been taken for that mug once and there won't be a second time.

If you are under contract to deliver something, then not delivering it makes you in breach of contract.

I don't know what the contract the OP signed says, though.