Can they sue me?

[stwpt]

We are not going to feed it to you on a spoon, all I can do is tell you again: Read the opt out sticky.

Thank you. I'm reading but not quite there yet

[SimonMac]

Yes you can be sued

If they have reason to is another matter and I can't be arsed reading over what has already been said

[VectraMan]

In the contract : Contractor will not provide services to the client during 12months following the end of the most recent contract.

My contract is about to end. Can i make contract with Customer company, not Client company?

That doesn't say you can't make a contract with the customer. Why are you worrying about it?

[SueEllen]

That doesn't say you can't make a contract with the customer. Why are you worrying about it?

Possibly because:
a. s/he doesn't understand the other clauses in the contract.
b. s/he has missed some of the wording out.

Anyway I hope the client is someone like BT as agencies tend to write tulip restraint of trade clauses which means that stopping you from working for one of their customers makes the entire clause is unenforceable.

[rootsnall]

My impression is that generally, contractors don't win these types of battles unless the client is on their side. The most likely scenario is that the agency will kick up a big fuss in order to bully the client into refusing to do business with you. If the client is willing to stand against the agency with you then you may have a chance. Quite often the client will put this into the "too difficult" pile and wave goodbye to you. Other times, the client may be willing to pay off the agency to release you from the restraint of trade.

I've tried it a couple of times with contracts I wasn't that bothered about keeping, and in both cases the client back bone failed after the first aggressive call from the agent. Unless the client manager is a hardened ex contractor with an axe to grind then forget it. In one case they could of paid off the agent with 3 months commission but still asked me to sign a new 6 month contract via the agent to avoid getting agency hassle.

[Segush]

In my case my agent has asked for 16% let go fee (this is 16% of my hourly rate x 52 weeks a year). Not bad, I am in the wrong business. Should have not opted out in the first place.

[malvolio]

Should have not opted out in the first place.

12 weeks = three months. Not really that much of an improvement, is it...