Contract offer withdrawn

[ASB]

The email may have established a contract.
it could very easily have been bid offer acceptance rather than an invitation to treat.

hard to have any certainty without the exact email trail.

I think I would probably take a flyer, assume the former. Off to small claims if they dont paym that would avoid expensive legals and risk of costs. Provided it was under 5k.

of course if the originator off the emails is not authorised to enter a binding contract then it is hopeless.

Edit: actually not hopeless, just a fair bit more different. Apparent authority has been held to be binding.

[northernladuk]

Oh no he wasnt!

As I see it, he contacted the client directly and got taken on directly by the Programme Director. The PD probably approached the client's preferred agency and said to get him signed up before being sacked for his part in this.

Its a legal minefield but I think he was direct then put to the agency by the PD. The agency can say the 'client' took him on and passed him onto them. I think the agency are home and dry myself.

Ah right gotcha... so yes the implied terms are direct so that's the fact of the situation but the PD acted incorrectly so he's caused the direct engagement without the knowledge of the proper teams internally and the agent. If the PD did this without the consent of the client it would be interesting to see what the legal situation is. Would the client argue this is on the PD or are the client responsible purely on the basis they employed the PD? It's highly unlikely he has the authority to create a contract so he got the boot.

I think the agency is actually a loser in all this as they lost the gig the OP should have taken up so no commission.

[northernladuk]

Just a thought as well, anyone any idea if the courts will look at the OP and ask if he acted negligently? Surely there is some onus on the OP to have been diligent in his dealings. I can't believe you can just get a mail from some random in a company, rock up, do some work and expect to get paid??? That seems nuts. The email will prove an implied contract with the OP personally as well, not his limited unless it is expressly mentioned as well?

[ASB]

The legal situation is that if the pd was not authorised to bind the comany to contracts then there is no contract. Plenty of case law to support that. It is quite likely the pd was not authorised.

if he was there is a reasonable chance that there was a contract offeredd - since the essential rate and start date were notn place. This then acceped by op turning up and starting. But it also depends on what happensd in the meantime. Again there is plenty of case law to establish that there was a contract.

[SueEllen]

In short bill and if they don't pay up decide whether to go to court.

Personally I would go to court if they didn't. Why? Lots of companies pay up to avoid things being leaked to the media, and once you go to court regardless of the outcome it can be reported.

[SarahL2012]

I think you've got a pretty good chance of getting the money out of them.

A 'reasonable person' could reasonably assume that a Programme Director had the authority to agree terms to bring someone onto a project. You were allowed access to the building and to the company's systems. If you'd been turned away on day 1 then that would be a different story obviously.

The fact that you had worked there before might actually work in your favour - you didn't believe you would need to go through the pre contract process again (reasonable view IMO)

Fine to rely on the email. Contracts don't have to be signed documents.

Get your invoice in to them ASAP and go from there.

[northernladuk]

In short bill and if they don't pay up decide whether to go to court.

Personally I would go to court if they didn't. Why? Lots of companies pay up to avoid things being leaked to the media, and once you go to court regardless of the outcome it can be reported.

Arghhh, I tried not replying to this but failed... I had to say it... I know it's easy to sit behind a keyboard and say it and I know I am going to get a ton of flack about this but....

The OP has acted like a bit of a donkey in all this. They are hardly the innocent party. They turned up on site on the promise from a PD when they know an agent is involved as they have worked there before. Made no effort to make sure this is all above board and that process has to be followed at any client, probably failed to consider the difference between them and their LTD and possibly more. Not a chance in hell I'd have been on site. Would I take it to the courts? Sitting here behind my PC I'd say I just couldn't. It's a lot of effort for 11 days money that really I couldn't help but know I was partly at fault for... it just doesn't seem right. But then I'd like to think I'd never get myself in this situation so it's very hypothetical.

All that said I'm fairly sure if the organisation is large enough to have a Programme Director it's large enough to have enough process and policy that the PD doesn't have contract creating rights so I think it's even more hypothetical anyway.

There you go... Flame on.

[ASB]

Turning it round a reasonable person might consider something like

We need x, 400 per day, start tomorrow

As an offer. They might further reasonably consider that the offeror was entitled to make it.

[BrilloPad]

It's a lot of effort for 11 days money

Exactly.

Worth raising an invoice for. And threatening small claims court. But that is it.

[northernladuk]

Turning it round a reasonable person might consider something like

We need x, 400 per day, start tomorrow

As an offer. They might further reasonably consider that the offeror was entitled to make it.

And following that I would like to see the paperwork and reference to my LTD following that I can then get checked. I'd also think I'd know the client well enough if I had been there a year previous to have a clue how the wheels work there.

Am not buying that sorry. To turn up on the back of that one line is just...... no....