Power cut, sent home.

[malvolio]

You may recall that one of the key IR35 cases was won on the basis that the contractor was sent home without pay when the system failed.

Ignore the half day pay, you have a solid defence against IR35, which is worth rather more.

[garethevans1986]

If I am supplying my services to a client, I only charge them what I work....power cut or not.

In the past I have had an agency's contract say that if I work < 4h hours I get paid for 4h as a minimum, if I work between 4h and 7.5h I get paid for 7.5 hours.

So in that case, it will depend on whats in your contract.

GE

[NotAllThere]

All seems normal to me. You get paid for what you work. I definitely think it a case of suck it up.

[b0redom]

Given the outline above, I'd just suck it up and move on tbh.

[BlasterBates]

Paying for the half-day sounds fair enough to me.

[northernladuk]

I think by "in good faith" the OP means that he's turned up and made himself available to work so expects to be paid. The OP should bill for the opportunity costs if he has a second contract running. If you cannot prove that you've lost money that you could have made elsewhere because you had someone else to work for then you're getting the square root of nothing. That's why you should always ignore parking tickets from Tesco

But that's where I think why 'in good faith' is wholly wrong. The contract sets it out explicitly. Work, get timesheet, get paid. There is no quibble there so I don't agree with the faith bit. Expecting to get paid isn't a great IR35 flag.

As it happens OP got his half day pay for his half day on site so I'd say it's all been done properly. That said I don't agree with taking the issue to the agent though. It's all pretty black and white so can't see rocking the boat will help in the long run.

[billybiro]

The other day there was a power outage at ClientCo that facilities could not fix in a timely manner and I was sent home early.

ClientCo would not approve a working day as I had not worked it, but I had attended in good faith and subsequently lost half a days money.

Is this correct? I did attend, started work but there was nothing I could do without power. WFH not an option here.

Accept that the client won't pay for your good faith effort. Explain to the client, "Oh well, fair enough, I'm a contractor. No work, no pay".

Store that little gem away for future reference, then, sometime later when the client has a decent-sized fire that needs putting out sometime in the start/middle of the afternoon you simply loudly declare that you don't fancy invoicing for this afternoon and that you're off home.

As the client is frantically trying to find resource to put out the fire and convince you to stay and help, you remind them that "no work, no pay" is the same as "no pay, no work" and say "See how that works?" as you stride out of the door whilst the fire rages on.

[WordIsBond]

Does the contract address this? If not, they are easily within their rights. And as Mal said, that's IR35 sorted for this contract. Record the date and the details and if HMRC ever comes knocking, this alone probably ends the discussion.

When I was in management, we'd have paid a contractor for the full day, if the problem was our responsibility. It's a case of arguably being a moral obligation even though there isn't a legal one. The guy did what he is supposed to, and he's lost a full day because of some failure on our part. We'd have paid. But unless the contract addresses it, there's no legal obligation.

Peace of mind on IR35 is worth a lot. If you could manage to get sent home for half a day on every contract, you'd never have to buy IPSE membership. Of course, if we all get forced into IR35 or into FLCs, then you probably won't need IPSE membership then, either.

[LondonManc]

But that's where I think why 'in good faith' is wholly wrong. The contract sets it out explicitly. Work, get timesheet, get paid. There is no quibble there so I don't agree with the faith bit. Expecting to get paid isn't a great IR35 flag.

As it happens OP got his half day pay for his half day on site so I'd say it's all been done properly. That said I don't agree with taking the issue to the agent though. It's all pretty black and white so can't see rocking the boat will help in the long run.

Yes, I agree with you. Can't see it working any other way really. Many trades outside of IT suffer similar fates and have to suck it up.

[psychocandy]

Difficult one.... All those saying no work no pay though - would you be pleased if you drove 200 miles turned up at the door and client said sorry no work today?

Worked at one client. They asked us all to work outside normal hours. This was post-contract issue so had to be added.

Anyway they did a rota all leading up to go live on the thursday and included day or two after. So all went 100% on thursday no issue but they didnt bother telling anyone they were canning the rota.

Friday evening this guy turned up having been down to do 12 hours from 7pm. He lived away so had stayed over Thursday night and all day Friday because he was down to work Friday. The client just left a note with security guard to say tell him no thanks he can go home. Not quite sure why they didnt contact him but I thought this was well off.

I would have been well peed off with this because apparently they refused to pay the guy too.