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

[psychocandy]

If you wanted payment then you should have talked to the client manager not the agency and told them exactly what was wrong with you before leaving as you may not have had to leave.

Some clients, even though they don't have to be, are nice if you aren't well and work with you so you can deliver the work on time. Others aren't but you don't know which they fall into until you have spoken to them.

Now you have learnt the hard way if you don't speak up and just walk away you will never know.....

Ah good point. Would have been wise to at least have a word with client if possible.

[FatLazyContractor]

Such empathy NLUK, luckily most clients aren't heartless as you to sue someone who has fallen ill.

Thanks Unix. That will go down as the best joke of the day.

[SpontaneousOrder]

Surely not being able to do the work personally isn't a breach of contract when there's a big ol' substitution clause in your contract. If they don't want a subbie then surely it's they who must terminate the contract - not the contractor?

Probably wouldn't bother for the sake of a week unless you somehow could get a decent replacement and still skim a large margin, but...

[SpontaneousOrder]

Although... I would personally say that after just a week you'd have to have some cheek to expect they to be happy to pay you. It probably cost them more than you delivered.

[northernladuk]

Such empathy NLUK, luckily most clients aren't heartless as you to sue someone who has fallen ill.

a) What has empathy got to do with it. It's a black and white fact
b) How does the agent really know you are sick. Your sockie master PC is always advocating to 'go off sick' to get out of notice for contracts so do you really the agent believes you or gives a tulip. He isn't exactly going to ask for medical records to prove it.

And it's not the client that sues him. He doesn't have a contract with the client. Moron.

[FatLazyContractor]

a) What has empathy got to do with it. It's a black and white fact
b) How does the agent really know you are sick. Your sockie master PC is always advocating to 'go off sick' to get out of notice for contracts so do you really the agent believes you or gives a tulip. He isn't exactly going to ask for medical records to prove it.

And it's not the client that sues him. He doesn't have a contract with the client. Moron.

Why worry when he can claim JSA ?

[TheFaQQer]

do I have any rights to be paid or should I just not pursue this as I breached my contract?

Did you breach the contract?

Did you actually terminate the contract, or did you offer to supply a substitute and they declined to accept the substitute? Were they entitled to reject the substitute that you offered? How did you actually offer the substitute?

If you did everything properly (and I think it's a big if), then you are entitled to be paid because you didn't breach the contract. If, however, you didn't do it properly then you get into a more complicated situation and you'll have to read the contract carefully to see what the remedy for breach is (if it is defined at all in there).

If you haven't breached it, then you should be paid - and since you weren't opted out then payment by the client is irrelevant. As long as you can prove that you did the work then the agency has to pay you.

The problem that you might well face is that the agency then sues you for your breach of contract, and gets awarded a sum greater than the amount that they owe you. Whether they will or not isn't something that anyone here can answer - but if you expect them to pay up willingly and be out of pocket because of your actions, I think you're deluding yourself.

[Eirikur]

The OP tried to invoke the substitution clause, (the agency didn't respond). He also opted in. All things the NLUK's of this world are shouting you need to do constantly.
Here's someone who did all of that and doesn't get paid and subsequently he gets burned down by some of the regulars
I feel the OP should be paid, agree that maybe the communication with the end client could have been a lot better

[Unix]

a) What has empathy got to do with it. It's a black and white fact
b) How does the agent really know you are sick. Your sockie master PC is always advocating to 'go off sick' to get out of notice for contracts so do you really the agent believes you or gives a tulip. He isn't exactly going to ask for medical records to prove it.

And it's not the client that sues him. He doesn't have a contract with the client. Moron.

So the OP is lying now. The bottom line is no agency is going to risk his reputation by suing a contractor for being sick. You are scare mongering as usual.

[northernladuk]

The OP tried to invoke the substitution clause, (the agency didn't respond). He also opted in. All things the NLUK's of this world are shouting you need to do constantly.
Here's someone who did all of that and doesn't get paid and subsequently he gets burned down by some of the regulars
I feel the OP should be paid, agree that maybe the communication with the end client could have been a lot better

I don't think he's getting burned down. He's getting solid advice based on the little information we have. Maybe a few opinions here and there thrown in but I don't see him being burned.