40 hrs minimum or 1/2 day rate penalty - never seen before

[psychocandy]

To be fair to the agency, this is all supplied up front BEFORE interview even so that's pretty good.

Got a real issue with the scrotes who expect a total commitment within 5 secs of being offered the gig - even had one agency once refuse to let me see the contract until I agreed via email that I'd accept it unconditionally. (tried to tell me I was the only one he'd ever met who'd kicked off about this!). Sadly this was one of the big agencies - complete tossers they are.

Anyway, decent gig it seems, rate probably 25% above market so decent. Close to home. But a very strange clause.
Basically, PWD is listed as MINIMUM 8 hours a day, 40 hours per week, if you work less than 40 hours then you lose 1/2 working day. Also, more than 8 hours = 1 PWD, 4-8 hours = 1/2 PWD, less than 4 = ZERO. Not negotiable agency tell me.

Bit harsh it seems. Generally work on the principal of 71/2-8 but not really that exact. Bit weird that its so strict like this. Surely cant be good for IR35 to have clauses like this?

Im wondering if I go for interview whether its going to be one of those where they come straight out and say they expect a minimum of 10 hours a day regardless because they want their moneys worth. Had that once and I told them during interview thanks but no thanks I had a life.

If rate wasnt so good I'd be concerned here....

Wondering if client in question has had bad experience in past with contractors taking the piss???

[jmo21]

Not even worth considering.

And I suspect you're right about what else the client might want.

There are too many perfectly fine clients to mess about with ones like that. Leave them to ex-Accenture/Atos type bods who are used to being bent over.

[tractor]

...

Not even worth considering.

And I suspect you're right about what else the client might want.

There are too many perfectly fine clients to mess about with ones like that. Leave them to ex-Accenture/Atos type bods who are used to being bent over.

Maybe the agent has negotiated an hourly contract with the client and wants to max their income. Tell them you are happy to do the same If not, I would laugh at them and walk away.

They need to be named and shamed though.

[VectraMan]

It's not a penalty; you're being paid per half day. Don't do the full day, don't get paid for the full day. It doesn't seem all that unreasonable to me and if you're going to do the hours it won't make a difference. Maybe as you say they've been burned by contractors turning up for an hour and charging for the full day.

As always you won't really know how flexible (or inflexible) they are until you start work.

[eek]

Exactly how do you find these crap contracts and agencies?

[SueEllen]

If rate wasnt so good I'd be concerned here....

The rate is good because they want their pound of flesh.

If they were doing it properly they would do it hourly.

If you are doing it day rate then you would expect that sometimes your contractors would work over 40 hours per week and sometimes under but in a month the time would balance out due to the tasks the contractors had to do.

I would go to the interview if you don't mind the risk of wasting some of your time and find out about their working practises verbally. I would have no qualms in telling them their contract clause is odd if they seemed like reasonable people.

[Zero Liability]

I can't see the IR35 implication - they're saying they expect a minimum amount of work or they will reduce your earnings; like Vectraman said, you would be paid per 1/2 day. I guess you could say it isn't the most flexible clause, but it doesn't ring any obvious IR35 alarm bells, to me.

[northernladuk]

To be fair I've had two gigs with this in and really don't see the problem. Remember the reality doesn't match the paperwork. In both hugs I was allowed to come and go as I please. Some days I did less, some more. No one batted an eyelid so just stuck 8 hours in. A few days I took the afternoon off so got paid for half a day which worked well for me. It's the agency paperwork that says that and is probably in there to suit their billing system and will have absolutely nothing to do with the attitude of the client?


As usual another non problem that becomes a mountain for PC. And as for IR35? You obviously don't have a clue about it if you can't work this out. You have been here long enough to know reality trumps contract and what are the main pointers.

[Contreras]

Surely cant be good for IR35 to have clauses like this?

Mandatory minimum hours is bad for IR35. But that's not what this is.

Everything is negotiable. If you want to be paid a full day for <8 hrs then negotiate for a lower rate.

[Bunk]

In both hugs I was allowed to come and go as I please.