An unwanted day off....

[HYpno27]

Working on an IT based project for a large engineering company. There is a complete freeze on all projects, IT or otherwise, contractors and consultants from IBM all told the site is closed over Xmas

Personally I'm not a workaholic anyway and like the fact I get paid enough to be able to take more time off

[NotAllThere]

Wrong. It shows direction and control. Not a good Ir35 pointer. Depending on how the client phrases your 'day off' (which is a very permie term anway). If the client told you that there's no work for you to do, then fine. If they said, they aren't willing to pay even if there is work and it is used as a way of getting you to conform to normal working and vacation patterns so you can't be an exception that's not so good.

No freelancer is told when they can and can't work, when the work is there.

Wrong. A permie cannot be told to take a day off without being paid.

[Chugnut]

No-one on their death bed says "I wish I'd spent more time in the office".

In the grand scheme of things it just amounts to a few quid. Just take the time off and relax. Work sucks, remember?

[vhadiant]

No-one on their death bed says "I wish I'd spent more time in the office".

In the grand scheme of things it just amounts to a few quid. Just take the time off and relax. Work sucks, remember?

Indeed. I'm taking 2 weeks off myself on the last week of December and first week of Jan. Relax it's Chrissy and New Year Spend some time to recharge, and yeah it's just a couple of days off anyway for ya.

[Chugnut]

Indeed. I'm taking 2 weeks off myself on the last week of December and first week of Jan. Relax it's Chrissy and New Year Spend some time to recharge, and yeah it's just a couple of days off anyway for ya.

That's the spirit mate.

I've never understood it. Loads of folk on here are always warbling on about the race to retirement (when they won't be working), but mention taking a few days off along the way (when they won't be working), and they react like you've blowtorched their nether regions.

[SueEllen]

Am I being tight?!?

Yes.

Working from home means I can always do the work later. Least if you are office based you can't so you can have a complete break.

[Denny]

Wrong. A permie cannot be told to take a day off without being paid.

He's not a permie, so what has that got to do with anything?

Why do so many posters on here respond to questions with completely irrelevant answers that has nothing to do with the questions posed?

My post wasn't about distinctions between permies and contractors being paid or not paid, it was about direction and control.

Whether directed or controlled or not, both contractors and permies are both paid, so your answer is completely irrelevant. Contractors are still being paid because they are being paid on deliverables that takes up a certain amount of time; permies are being paid because they are salaried with permitted periods of leave per year. This is the same for both whether they are working or not working. Therefore, it goes without saying that contractors being paid by deliverables should do these according to their own scheduling not the end client's because the work should belong to the contractor's own company to be sold back to the end client via the timesheet mechanism agreed with the EB or client. If the work belongs to the contractor and they agreed to do work they have yet to complete then the end client should have a work withdrawal reason for enforcing a contractor to do something else. Any other reason is client direction and control.

Please be relevant, otherwise you just end up misleading others.

[TheFaQQer]

I'm generally with Denny on this one, BUT...

If the work can only be performed on client site for business reasons (e.g. security implications, or on-site support) and the site is closed, then this would not amount to D&C.

So if the reason for you not working that day is that you are required on site for a valid business reason not amounting to D&C, and the site is not open, then this would not be an IR35 indicator.

IMHO.

[Denny]

I'm generally with Denny on this one, BUT...

If the work can only be performed on client site for business reasons (e.g. security implications, or on-site support) and the site is closed, then this would not amount to D&C.

So if the reason for you not working that day is that you are required on site for a valid business reason not amounting to D&C, and the site is not open, then this would not be an IR35 indicator.

IMHO.

Good point, and perfectly correct, but I think the poster's original query alluded to that not being the case and that's why I didn't add this point myself!

[WindyAnna]

I've also been told I can't work over Christmas. Original reason was that the site is closed, but when I stated I would work at home I was told that everyone in the programme needed to take a break and so I wouldn't be allowed to do so! I know that it is really an attempt to try to save money and also because they don't trust a number of the contractors and consultants to actually work when they are not on site. either way I'm not happy, I'd rather take the time off but I am snowed with stuff to do and by taking the time off I will end up coming back to shedloads of pressure in January, so it is hardly going to allow me to relax!

Although irrelevant to this debate I have to point out that you can make permies take a day off without pay as long as it is explicitly stated in their Ts & Cs. An example would be where you give an employee an annual leave allowance on the understanding that certain days have to be taken at certain times (e.g. if the office is closed for a week at Christmas, or in the case of a nanny they should take x weeks at the same time as the family takes their holiday). If they haven't got enough leave allowance left to take that time off then you can make them take the time off and not pay them.