End client does not want to approve timesheets

[northernladuk]

Do yourself a favour mate and chalk this one up to experience.

Unfortunately WHS

We aren't dissing you gallotta and wish you well with whatever action you decide to take.

Good luck!

and WSS

[MarillionFan]

Unfortunately WHS and WSS

This does rather piss on your view that an agency is giving you a cut of their money NL.

As has been said, I would invoice the agency and followup with a more strongly worded legal letter. But, having been in a similar position where a client terminated a contract on me after five days with the 'didn't deliver anything' and 'took a day off without telling us' approach I couldn't prove that they had received the work, OK'd it and agreed to a day off because it was on their work email and they revoked it.

Always cover your ass with emails to yourself & ensure everything is agreed and signed off. Never show the client your agency terms.

[MrF]

First you are going to have to determine your Opt In/Out status. This is pretty simple

Did you sign an opt out declaration?

If no then you are opted in.

If yes, then question becomes one of timing, if you signed it before introduction to client (interview/start work) then you are opted out, if you signed it after introduction then opted in

If opted out, contract wording will determine if you are meant to be paid even without timesheets
If opted in, you must be paid regardless of provision of timesheets or whatever else contract says about documentation

But either way, you are going to have hard fight ahead. Best of luck

Do you know where I can read more about this? I am in the situation where the client tries to stitch up the agency and the agency seems to be too lame to bother take a fight with the client.

Any hints very much appreciated. I was introduced, had a client meeting and started to work one day before the opt-out was signed so the opt-out is dated one day after the client introduction. Got the emails etc to prove it.

[northernladuk]

This does rather piss on your view that an agency is giving you a cut of their money NL.
.

I don't see how it does that. Doesn't say anywhere the agent got paid by the client and even if he did the agent has a joker card to piss the OP about, not pay him and keep the dosh. The mechanics of it are still the same but in this case people are playing silly buggers. What is supposed to happen and what happens when people start arguing and being daft are very different things.

[Wanderer]

I do sympathise with the client there. Clients should pay contractors for producing, not for bum-on-seat time. All very well to say that the first week is "ramping up", but if that never translates into a result I don't know what service you can say you're billing for.

Well, it depends on the contract. Was the contract to deliver a specific piece of work, scoped out and specified up front with a load of pre-sales work and detailed requirements and delivered at a fixed price? Or was it for the contractor to come and work for the client as a bum on a seat for x number of days. If it was the latter (which most contracts are) then you can't expect a contractor to hit the ground running. If the client wants a bum on a seat then they have to pay the money for them to some up to speed.

You're billing the agency, not the client. You gave the agency what they asked for. If the agent didn't give the client what the client asked for, that's the agent's fault. The agent should act like a real business rather than just a pimp.

Really, that's what it boils down to. Agencies will keep messing contractors around unless contractors stand up to the agencies and make them pay for dicking us around.

Send the threatening letter then file a case using Money Claim if they don't pay. I wouldn't waste a load of time preparing an elaborate case though - as others say, your energies are best spent on looking for the next contract.

[gallotta]

I completely agree and thank you all (even the ones dissing ) . As of yesterday, this is gone with The Thomas Higgins Partnership, let's see how things develop, will keep you posted