Agency Refusing to Pay Me After Leaving Contract with No Notice & No Signed Timesheet

[TheFaQQer]

In my contract it states that the agency take no responsibility if the client does not pay them as they cannot then pay me but I have also been advised that being opted in protects one from such clauses? I am not sure what next steps should be. Hang fire for further updates from the Director, chase for payment after 30 days or take legal advice? I appreciate some of your comments staying it's more hassle than its worth for just 6 days work but it's still around 2k for me and due to my circumstances I have not been able to work and am reliant on this money towards my income.

You have to assess the risk of whether the agency are likely to sue or not. As you've seen, some people think they would, and others think they wouldn't - certainly if it was my business that was going to be out of pocket because someone else breached their contract, I'd be suing to recover my losses. But I'm not the agency, they may be "nicer" than I am...

The correct legal procedure is that you should be paid by the agency for the time that you worked, because you have not opted out of the agency regulations. The agency should then, if they choose to do so, pursue you for the money that they are owed because of the breach of contract.

I don't know whether they would sue, and I don't know whether they would win if you offered to fulfil the contract but it was declined - only you know the full details of exactly what happened, and if you are serious about chasing for the money then I would recommend taking professional legal advice (providing all the details that you can) and see whether you should chase it (and risk being counter sued) or let it go.

If it were me, I'd get that advice, but I would still chase for payment when the agency breaches the payment terms - which they almost certainly will do. Have a look at payontime.co.uk for how to chase the debt, so at least you know what you have to do.

As has been said, though, the danger of chasing for the money is that you end up significantly out of pocket if they sue and win. If you are reliant on the money, then consider the impact of losing.

Good luck

[SueEllen]

The responses fall into two camps:

1. You walked out of the contract without a good reason and so are in breach of contract. In addition you did not produce anything worthwhile. Therefore you can push for payment including taking it to the Small Claims Court if you cannot settle with them but expect the agency, backed by the client, to countersue you for the breach of contract.

2. Regardless of whether you walked out of the contract or not, as you were there for a week you should be paid even if you have breached the contract. Therefore chase it up and take the agency to the Small Claims Court if you can't settle the matter out of court.

The fact that you were ill is irrelevant here because you did not disclose the nature of your illness to either the client or the agency. If you had you may have had more ammunition i.e. some clients aren't sure what equality law applies to you so will work around your illness.

There is another issue around the fact you emailed about the substitute. You brought it up in an email but didn't seem to chase the matter which would have helped you now.

For small court claims cases taking legal advice is not reimbursable so you could pay a few hundred quid for solicitor's advice that you can't get back. It will also cost you more than if you had a solicitor look at the contract before you signed it.

Also you can sue someone but you may have to chase them for the money and court cases can take months to happen.

If you are desperate for the money:
1. Follow Dunning (google it)
2. Take them to the small claims court if you cannot settle out of court.

[malvolio]

It is good, if it's true, that the agency are chasing for the money from the client, but that's only because they are out of pocket themselves; there's still no guarantee it will find its way to you, although there's no reason not to do so.

As for the Opt in protection, that is a difficult one. If the agency agree you are not opted out, (and assuming they are one of the few that either understand or care about the AEW rules) they wouldn't be talking about non-payment.

You need to read your contract carefully and slowly so you are fully aware of what is says and what you've agreed to. Then there are options:

1. The Agency accept you are not opted out and pay you

2. You remind the agency that you are not opted out and will report them to BIS Compliance unit and they recognise their mistake and pay up since it's cheaper than the £5k fine BIS will impose - if they get involved at all...

3. You sue under late payments regulations and then involve BIS when the agency disagrees regarding your status and refuses to pay up.

4. You sue for breach of contract they counter sue on the same basis. That will cost more than you will recover so would be a Pyrrhic victory at best.

5. The client refuses to sign on the basis you've done no substantive work and the payment isn't owed under the terms of your contract (see Force Majeure and non-performance clauses).

Up to you what you choose to follow of course...

[Contreras]

I am not sure what next steps should be. Hang fire for further updates from the Director, chase for payment after 30 days or take legal advice?

Don't trust that the agent is chasing for a timesheet just because they say so.

Your next steps in my opinion would be: 1. try to obtain email confirmation directly from the client for the hours worked, even if this comes with caveats attached. 2. If you have a substitute available then offer this directly to the client as well. 3. Find a debt collection agency that deals with contractors (hint: there is one that posts here occasionally). Give them the client's response (if you get one) along with the invoice and a copy of the contract. They will rate your chances.

If it can be pursued it will cost you a percentage of the invoice but allowing you to focus on recovery from illness and/or be looking for the next contract.

Good luck.

[Project Monkey]

I'd argue that's incorrect. It is fair. It's breach of contract which comes with remedies which potentially could be more than he is owed.

FTFY

[northernladuk]

Your next steps in my opinion would be: 1. try to obtain email confirmation directly from the client for the hours worked, even if this comes with caveats attached..

This is going to be incredibly difficult bearing mind the situation. Is there any legal precedence to force a client in to supplying this?

Getting heavy handed with a client that you've just let down so spectacularly makes me a little uncomfortable to be fair but if you want to go to then letter of the law then that's your right I guess.

Interesting that Safe Collection's haven't been on.

[psychocandy]

Have I missed something? So OP - did you know you were ill before the gig started and might not be able to perform?

Or was this all of a sudden and unexpected?

But then, where do you draw the line? IMHO no client has any right to know my medical history unless its something that is going to DIRECTLY affect them NOW.

OK even if you have an existing condition but still, in all truth, have no reason to believe it will flare up and cause an issue then why should you admit to it? Like I said, if you sort of knew it would LIKELY be a problem then that's different.

Sorry too much like permie jobs where they request medical records etc for my liking.

And on the subject, surely no-one can sue you for breach if you unexpectedly become physically unable to provide the service? Especially, as in with the subbie offer, the OP made a bit of an effort to assist.

[Contreras]

This is going to be incredibly difficult bearing mind the situation. Is there any legal precedence to force a client in to supplying this?

No, but you can ask.

Getting heavy handed with a client that you've just let down so spectacularly makes me a little uncomfortable ...

Heavy handed? No. Apologetic? Yes.

AFAICT so far all communication was done through the agent. For all we know the client is not refusing to pay. Present your story (not the agent's version), eat humble pie, offer a substitute. It might be all too late, we don't know the time line.

Interesting that Safe Collection's haven't been on.

Was thinking that too.

[Safe Collections]

AFAICT so far all communication was done through the agent. For all we know the client is not refusing to pay. Present your story (not the agent's version), eat humble pie, offer a substitute. It might be all too late, we don't know the time line.

Practically speaking, this is probably the OPs best option at the moment based on the limited information provided thus far.

Speak to the client, apologise profusely and offer the sub. If they don't accept then at least the lines of communication remain open and that may be crucial if the agent tries to avoid payment.

As for the agency itself, we wouldn't be surprised if they try and use the "client didn't pay us" line anyway as in our experience most smaller agencies don't realise (or just try to ignore) their obligations under the Employment Regs. If the OP is legitimately "in" then they really haven't got a leg to stand on legally as far as withholding payment goes (see malvolio's post above).

As far as getting in to a protracted and defended legal action, with both the agency and the OP issuing proceedings against each other for their respective claims. It is a real risk insofar as the law certainly allows for the resolution of issues like this. But practically speaking most people realise that in those situations the only people who really make any money are the solicitors involved.

That isn't to say it doesn't happen, but it isn't something we see regularly.

So speak to the client and try and make them happy if possible, then speak to the agent and if your invoice isn't paid as per the terms of the contract then chase as you normally would.

Interesting that Safe Collection's haven't been on.

Was thinking that too.

Sorry we were waiting on the OP to come back with more info

[TheFaQQer]

1. Follow Dunning (google it)

Interesting that Safe Collection's haven't been on.

They were down WH Smith's buying a dictionary to look that one up