Notice Period

[ruth11]

Just had my contract terminated 3 months early (was a 6 month contract) due to budget cuts on the project I was hired for. I've been informed unofficially, by the client, not the agency, that I will be given 1 weeks notice, therefore I finish next Thursday.

However, I believe I am entitled to 4 weeks notice. I am still waiting for the confirmation from the agency. In the meantime, this is what my contract says:

1. These Terms of Contract ("the Terms") and the “Offer of Assignment” attached set out the entire agreement between the Supplier and the Company. In the Terms, references to the singular include the plural (and vice versa) and the following definitions apply:
1.1. “the Company” - The Agency Name, an employment business;
1.2. “the Supplier” – the employer of the Contractor as specified on the Offer of Assignment This is my LTD Co right?;
1.3. “the Contractor” -the individual Me as specified on the Offer of Assignment (which shall include any replacement contractor supplied in accordance with paragraph 3) to provide the specified services;
1.4. "Client" means any person, firm, company or organisation requiring the services of a contractor from the Company;
1.5. "Assignment" means any activity for which a Client seeks the services of a contractor from the Company;

2. The Company is an employment business which supplies contractors to Clients. The Company shall have no obligation to offer any minimum period of Assignment or any minimum number of Assignments to the Supplier , or, for the avoidance of doubt, to the Contractor. It shall be entirely within the discretion of the Company to determine whether the Supplier is suitable to service any particular Assignment and whether the Supplier is more suitable than any other Supplier to whose services the Company has access. The Supplier has no obligation to accept any Assignments offered, even if it has accepted previous Assignments. If the Supplier chooses to accept an Assignment offered by the Company, the Supplier shall procure for the Company the Services of the Contractor to carry out the Assignment, subject to paragraph 3 below. The Company may require the Supplier to remove any individual Contractor from any Assignment at any time without notice, explanation or compensation (other than for hours actually worked at the agreed Rate). Following commencement of any Assignment the Company may terminate an Assignment at any time within the first four weeks immediately without notice. Thereafter the Company will give the Supplier not less than four weeks notice if it wishes to terminate an Assignment prior to the termination date of that Assignment.

I believe the very last sentence highlighted in red is the one that is important here but I'm not sure about the bit in Purple. Does the bit in purple mean that if they want to remove the contractor from the assignment for any reason (like under performance etc) they can and My Ltd Co would be given the opportunity to replace said contractor? But they can't terminate the assignment without giving my Ltd co 4 weeks notice?

So confusing!

[TheFaQQer]

There's nothing that you can do, really.

You only get paid for the work that you do, so essentially they have a choice. Either give you a week and pay you for that time and terminate the contract; or give you four weeks notice but tell you not to come in for that time. At least with the first you are going to get some money out of it.

The best thing to come out of it is that it shows a financial risk, therefore helps your IR35 position. Not much of a silver lining, but there is one there.

It's frustrating - I've had it happen a few times, including the current gig which was due to run for another month but ends on Wednesday. All you can do is chalk it up to experience, act nice, and remind them that if they find they need you, they know where to find you. At least it's not being terminated for anything more sinister.

[ruth11]

Thanks TheFaqqer. I hadn't thought about it like that.

[Sockpuppet]

Had this happen to me one. DHL terminated contract early due to budgets cuts. I won another contract with DHL (one week later) the money I lost (for the whole 2 months the orig contract had left) got added onto the rate so I wasnt down any money at all.

[thunderlizard]

That's a bit of a sly move on their part but actually you are right.
The purple bit allows them to tell your company to take you personally off the project, but the contract wouldn't be terminated. (your company would just have to send another person to do the work instead). But if the reason was budget cuts, that's not the course of action that they'd be taking. If they can't pay up, they want to be getting rid of your company entirely, not just make it chop and change its staffing arrangement. So it's the bit in red that should be applying.

You should tell the agency this - you'll probably need to talk to their contracts manager because he/she will probably be the only one in the agency who actually understands what their contracts mean. You should meanwhile tell their client - since they've approached you - that your contract with their agent says 4 weeks so that's the date you'll be working to.

[s2budd]

Happens all the time

I started my third renewal of a sixth month contract on a gig 2 hours drive away and one week later was given notice due to budget issues.
Then offered another gig 20 mins away from home without an interview afew days after.

That's contracting and partly why we earn more.
Dust yourself down, re-read your notes and put your CV out there again.