Early Termination

**Sockpuppet** · 8 March 2007, 10:36

Get a copy of the T&Cs and get a lawyer to grab a copy as well and certify what date he had them.

IANAL but I'd think they would have to pay you as you have effectivly agreed a price upfront and as long as its not attached to a rate/day I cannot see how they could not give it to you.

**boredsenseless** · 8 March 2007, 10:39

Originally posted by coulsonm

Hi

I recently received a purchase Order extension from my client , running from April to end June. With this in mind, I agreed to stay on, and turned down other opportunities. There was never any formal contract signed (never has been) the only contract that exists is the Purchase Order itself, which states that they are purchasing my services for the period April to end June 07.

In the 2 weeks since the Purchase Order was received, they have had a re-think and decided they no longer need me.

I am not prepared to accept this ( as I have told them) , especially when I turned down other opportunities to stay on. If they want me to leave early, they will have to pay me for the work they committed to in the Purchase Order. Incidentally their standard Purchase Order terms & conditions (which are only visible on a website address, not attached) make little mention of a specific timeframe or notice for early termination. Besides, my own terms & conditions make no mention of a facility for early termination, and the battle of the forms would probably render either set worthless.

What do you think is my legal standing?

(p.s. I have no issue with upsetting the Client, I have no intention of returning at a later date)

Mark

If it is a purchase order rather than a contract the necessity to pay is only created once the actual work is performed. If you cannot perform the work you cannot get paid for it.

This is standard B2B stuff, and purchase orders are extremely risky if you like the guarantee of work and notice periods. But then real companies only work on purchase orders.

You don't have a leg to stand on, purchase orders by their nature do not have termination clauses, they only indicate a promise to pay in return for services/goods, if these services/goods are not provided they don't need to pay.

In future make sure your paperwork (quote) for the work includes a stipulation that there will be a fee payable if the order is terminated of X or the remainder of the purchase order value whichever is lower. That is if you really care about it, I don't I'd just move on to the next client.

**Euro-commuter** · 8 March 2007, 11:20

BTW IANAL but I remember from previous discussions on here that you can only claim for actual loss, i.e. you go and get another contract now, and claim for the lost income, not the total of that PO.

**boredsenseless** · 8 March 2007, 12:23

Originally posted by Euro-commuter

BTW IANAL but I remember from previous discussions on here that you can only claim for actual loss, i.e. you go and get another contract now, and claim for the lost income, not the total of that PO.

But he hasn't lost anything. The company have issued a PO saying they will pay him on receipt of goods or services. They haven't received them, they don't pay.

If it was a contract for time thats a different story but its not its a promise to pay for services/items used/supplied.

And he could just have easily phoned in sick, can he still claim for lost income? The client will argue in court that the contractor could also have terminated at any time and therefore they are entitled to do the same also.

**Flubster** · 8 March 2007, 13:39

Originally posted by Denny

Get a permanent job. Clearly you're not cut out for contracting.

Harsh...but fair.

**boredsenseless** · 8 March 2007, 14:25

Originally posted by Flubster

Harsh...but fair.

Probably the best bit of advice ever given out on this board to be honest!

**thunderlizard** · 9 March 2007, 00:22

Originally posted by Denny

Get a permanent job. Clearly you're not cut out for contracting.

that's harsh. I say you should fight for any income streams to your company.

When the Accenture-account-managers of this world start taking the attitude "they owe us money contractually but they don't want to pay it...oh well, never mind, we'll put it down to experience" then so will I. If you want to wear your resilience like a badge of honour while your firm's haemorrhaging cash, that's your lookout.

Definitely worth getting the lawyers looking into whether a purchase order has a kind of contractual status. If you've done anything like put a team together and paid them upfront on the basis of needing some work, you'll be well out of pocket.

**ASB** · 9 March 2007, 06:59

Originally posted by boredsenseless

The company have issued a PO saying they will pay him on receipt of goods or services. They haven't received them, they don't pay.

Nope. They have issued a PO on their conditions (whatever they be). In most cases this will mean they have commited to buy those services.

If they had just ordered 10,000 PC's and refused delivery of them would that get them out of the contract ? I don't think so.

However, the best the OP can hope for is compensation for actual loss - on the assumption there is nothing in the T+C's to the contrary. There is also a duty to try and mitigate that loss.

**ASB** · 9 March 2007, 07:15

Originally posted by Denny

Get a permanent job. Clearly you're not cut out for contracting.

So, a legal contract is agreed between 2 parties (the fact that it is a PO makes it no less of a contract).

One party says to the other: "We have decided we can't be arsed to honour this".

The little guy says "I'm not just going to roll over and die"

So the littly guy is the one who is not fit to be in business ???

Can't follow it myself.

Early Termination