Early termination of the contract by client

[Lance]

I've only known of contractors be criminally bad to not be given their notice period to work out.

Usually it's the contractor asking to go a bit quicker, not the client.

Pretty much the same I see.

The clients, unlike agents, are human beings after all.

The clients usually don’t know what they can or can’t get away with. I try and educate them. I encourage them to offer extensions without budget but end early, and to immediately evict incompetents without hesitation.

[Nancy8]

Don't quite agree with responses. I think it all depends on the signed contract.

This happened to me a week ago (received early termination on August 5 2019). I signed a new work contract in June 2019. I left an open-ended long-term contract with a good client only because the new work contract was along the lines of my expertise/speciality. The assignment end date is : December 7 2019.

My contract reads like this:

4. Duration and Termination
4.1 This agreement shall remain in force until the assignment is completed as defined in the Schedule (“Assignment End Date”) unless terminated earlier in accordance with the terms of this Agreement or extended by agreement of both parties under the terms of this Agreement. This clause shall be subject to clause 4.2 below.

4.2 Without prejudice to any other rights and remedies to which the Company may be entitled under this Agreement, the Company may forthwith terminate this Agreement by written notice to the Contractor if:

• either the Contractor or the Client goes into liquidation, or (in the case of an individual) becomes bankrupt, makes a voluntary arrangement with his or its creditors or has a receiver or administrator appointed.

• the Contractor is in breach of any of its obligations hereunder;
• the Client indicates to the Company that it is not satisfied with the performance of the Contractor or the Representative;

• the Representative wilfully or negligently introduces a virus or other harmful code to the Representative’s or Client’s hardware or software used in the performance of the Assignment.

• any criminal records checks, credit checks or references are subsequently received and further to the outcome of such checks the Client does not wish to continue with the Assignment.

If the Representative proves unsuitable to the Client within the first 48 hours of assignment then immediate notice will be given and the Contractor will not charge the Company for any time within the first 48 hours. The Company may terminate an Agreement with one weeks' notice where the term is less than eight weeks, and two weeks' notice where the term is more than eight weeks

---

For the record, when I spoke with agency on the phone - agency told me that client does not have to state the reason. It affected me quite a great deal since it is the first time ever since doing contract work since 1992 that my work contract has been terminated early.

I emailed the person that hired me. He wrote (in an email) primary reason is that the deployment is no longer urgent and that they are able to resurrect the VISA of a resource from India to take over my work.

In fact, I had to do an turnover of my work to this resource.

I never second guessed the quality of my work. I am my own worst critic. So it clearly isn't any one of the bullet points stated in my contract.

I intend to move on and find the next work contract. But damage has been done.
1. I would not have taken the new work contract and leave an open-ended longterm contract if the new work contract stated a short term duration.
2. I would not have taken the new work contract if it did not include at least 6 months duration.
3. I would not have signed the work contract if it stated that they can terminate it for no reason.

[northernladuk]

Tl;dr but the advice is always exactly the same. A contract is only as long as its notice period and even that's not really true. It's as long as the client needs you. The day they don't you are done.

There will be a clause in your contract where you get paid for work done. If you don't do any work you don't get paid. They could keep you contract going for ever but never offer you any work. It's the same as instant termination. Every contract had the option to get rid of you immediately. You are kidding yourself if you think they can't.

There is nothing you can do about it and the best option is to do a good hand over, thank them for the work and hope they will call you back in the future. Getting pissy with them will get you in the same place but with no hope of future work.

You shouldn't rely on contracting for guaranteed income. That's not what we do. You shouldn't be in a long term open ended assignment. That's a target for Ir35. You are brought in to do a set piece of work or for a set duration. Open ended smacks of permiedom.

Nothing is guaranteed in contracting. It's the way it is and it's why we get paid a lot of money.

Not nice being canned but it happens.

[Nancy8]

Person that hired me is a freelance contract worker that has been there almost 4 year

Tl;dr

You shouldn't rely on contracting for guaranteed income. That's not what we do. You shouldn't be in a long term open ended assignment. That's a target for Ir35. You are brought in to do a set piece of work or for a set duration. Open ended smacks of permiedom.

Nothing is guaranteed in contracting. It's the way it is and it's why we get paid a lot of money.

Not nice being canned but it happens.

Person that interviewed and hired me has been working there for almost 4 years.
Didn't ask you about target for IR35. I've been doing freelance since 1992. I have other projects that I do remotely. I did point out that it depends on contract signed. I deal on a Business to business and I didn't refer an employment contract in this forum. The excerpt I posted comes from a business contract.

[northernladuk]

You didn't but open ended log term contracts can be problematic giving you the impression of being just a disguised body. The person being there 4 years should also be taking care of his status, particularly if he's interviewing people as well.
The fact you are expecting them to give work also messes with your Mutality of obligation which is one of the main pillars of defence.
I'm aware all that comes from a B2B contract but if your working practices are like a perm then it trumps the contract.

Anyway, all this is slightly of topic but I do think you need to take a bit more care around Ir35, particularly with the changes coming in April. A client is going to have to shoulder a lot of risk if they are going to deem these types of gigs outside.