Contract offer withdrawn

[Boo]

It appears the person who recruited you acted outside of company procedures. If you have any comeback, its with him.

Complete tosh. The OP has a contract with the client directly and they canot wriggle out of it by blaming their employee. Hopefully the advice the OP has sought is from a solicitor who will confirm this.

Boo

[SueEllen]

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.

The OP is a chancer you are not.

And as lots of cases never get in a court room or even when they do they get settled before the judge makes their ruling, the OP may as will risk that as well. If the organisation decided to risk a full hearing there is a good chance the judge would question the OP's due diligence regardless if they won or lost.

In regards to chasing debts - once you have done it once it's easy to do.

[BrilloPad]

Complete tosh. The OP has a contract with the client directly and they canot wriggle out of it by blaming their employee. Hopefully the advice the OP has sought is from a solicitor who will confirm this.

Boo

Then will have already paid. And it will cost lots of time and money to get redress.

[SueEllen]

Then will have already paid. And it will cost lots of time and money to get redress.

Small claims cases are easy to deal with. That's the entire point of it.

As long as the OP is not mean and uses next day delivery to send letters then it's likely the organisation will pay up or contest the claims quickly.

Anyway the OP now cannot work with that client ever again regardless...

[currybelly]

Didn't realise this would garner quite such an immediate response, but thanks for all the quick replies and of course all of that compassion Nothernladuk

Just to clear a few things up.

There was no client systems access & I didn't come through an agency previously, so no-one with a vested interest that I was trying to bypass. The agency I refer to was there purely to deal with the admin of the contract that I had "agreed" with the Client, for which they would get a small mark-up. The work I performed for the client was purely based on information I knew from my prior involvement with the project and yes, the billable amount would have been substantially above £5k (although I think SCC limit is now £10k anyway).

I don't think I was being unreasonable expecting those responding to me to be and authorised officer of the company and many contracts start before paperwork is finalised.

I have no major beef with either the client or the individuals concerned, I was just trying to elicit a response as to whether I was being unreasonable expecting to be paid for my time!!

Many thanks for the feedback (good and bad!!)

Cheers,

CB

[clearedforlanding]

Its really simple. Don't show up on site without a contract.

It ends up in tears far too often.

[meridian]

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.

Couple of things there that I would disagree with.

Firstly, even though the OP has since confirmed that no agency was involved, even if there was it's been nearly six months since the last engagement. If opted in, then he's clear to go direct. If opted out, then as long as he's past the handcuff period them he's clear to go direct.

Secondly, if he's dealing with the Programme Director then there's a reasonable expectation that the PD has authorisation, if not to create a contract, then at least to order one created.

Finally, if he's worked there before then there's a natural inclination to help them out. Yes, maybe he could have been a bit more careful in due diligence in confirming the process and that the contract was above board, but I know that for certain clients and certain PMs that I've worked with before I would be more willing to take some things on trust. And yes, with 20/20 hindsight this would be stupid...

[northernladuk]

Couple of things there that I would disagree with.

Firstly, even though the OP has since confirmed that no agency was involved, even if there was it's been nearly six months since the last engagement. If opted in, then he's clear to go direct. If opted out, then as long as he's past the handcuff period them he's clear to go direct.

Secondly, if he's dealing with the Programme Director then there's a reasonable expectation that the PD has authorisation, if not to create a contract, then at least to order one created.

Finally, if he's worked there before then there's a natural inclination to help them out. Yes, maybe he could have been a bit more careful in due diligence in confirming the process and that the contract was above board, but I know that for certain clients and certain PMs that I've worked with before I would be more willing to take some things on trust. And yes, with 20/20 hindsight this would be stupid...

I understand what you are saying. I don't think handcuffs have anything to do with this situation. I personally don't think the assumption a PD can engage directly is very clever at all, I'd never make that assumption and I don't think the inclination to help has any bearing, we are still contractors engaging in B2B contracts. You can still be helpful and follow process...

but.. all that said your points are very valid and are very much down to personal opinion and experiences. As SueEllen says I like to do things by the book which is my way and not the same for everyone else. Those people probably have long successful contracting careers as well so good points.

And also as SE points out, whatever the legal position is this is rarely bottomed out and things are sorted out just to avoid fuss. It can come down to who is going to make the most noise about it.

Interesting thread.

[LucidDementia]

Sounds to me a lot like this is being over-thought.

OP do you have hard-copy evidence of an offer, consideration and acceptance?
Do you also have hard-copy evidence of ClientCo (as opposed to one guy) allowing you on site and accepting your services?

If so you have a contract and tacit agreement on the ClientCo side. Get a claim in, they won't fight it. (Unless they're nuts)
If you don't have those things suck it up and move on.

[BolshieBastard]

Complete tosh. The OP has a contract with the client directly and they canot wriggle out of it by blaming their employee. Hopefully the advice the OP has sought is from a solicitor who will confirm this.

Boo

Utter bollocks. If the PD who was sacked for their role in this episode, didnt adhere to the client's recruitment policy of contractors or wasnt authorised to hire (which is usually HR's remit), the company can hardly be held responsible for a rogue employee and an 'engagement' that wasnt authorised or completed within their policy.

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