Huxley - when am I obligated to take a contract.

[zik]

Hello,

I've found some difficulties working with Huxley. I was going to take a contract which would be organized/setup by Huxley. I passed interview with client and we moved to organizing paperwork. During that it turned out that formal organization is not exactly what I've expected: management companies are not very transparent and net salary promised is unreal to achieve without so called "creative accountant".

Therefore I would like to cancel whole process. When I asked Huxley for such possibility I have been told that I've already accept the offer and if I resign now Huxley then will be able to claim "an consequences".

It was quite surprising for me, since we haven't signed any agreement yet. The only document which I've signed is "confirmation to placement with COMPANY_X". But this document states only some general information about placement and says nothing about any obligation which might be created by it. From my perspective it look like Huxley's internal document (I don't know what Huxley need it for), for sure it doesn't look to be some "preliminary agreement" or something like that.
Do you know this document: "confirmation to placement"? And do you think it can create any obligations from my side?

All situation seems very unclear for me.

[SueEllen]

1. Look on the right hand side of this forum at the CUK Navigation. Go down to "First Timers", click on it and read the information. You really need to understand how these things work.

2. The "management companies" as you call them - (they are known as umbrella companies on this forum) aren't doing creative accounting.

Their calculators just presume everyone will have a certain amount of expenses for their daily/hourly rate and will work a full year. The fact that your expenses are less than the calculator means you take home pay will be less.

3. Your umbrella company would have signed the contract agreement between you and the agency. Ideally you should have seen a copy of the contract before they sent it to the umbrella company.

There is nothing stopping you asking (I would do it by email and fax so they can't deny you have asked) for a copy of the contract to be sent to you within 24 hours by email. If they refuse to then you just tell them where to go. If they do give it to you then have a good read and use the search facility on this site to answer your questions as it's quicker than posting.

4.Huxley are talking bollocks about you getting out of the contract as they can't legally chase you for any money except if they explicitly put it in the contract.

Even then they would have to show they made a loss and the amount of the loss is equal to the entire contract/amount they are claiming, unless they want you to take them to court and argue on more than that.

[PSK]

Hello,

Sorry to hear you're in a difficult situation. You haven't provided much information so I don't have much to go on but if you've signed a document called "confirmation to placement with COMPANY_X" then you may well have agreed something that has a contractual standing. Everything will depend on the detail but at worst, what do you think signing a document that has you 'confirming your placement with Huxley's client' would achieve if not to be part of the contractual agreement? If this confirmation doesn't contain all the detail you'd expect to be in a contract then it may make reference to other parts of a contract or terms and agreement so you might need to find and read those documents.

That said, agreements bind both sides so if what you and Huxley may have agreed differs from what they are now saying is the basis for the placement then they may be at fault or in breach, provided the things you are unhappy with are different from what was in the documents you agreed (ignoring verbal contracts, misrepresentation and any of the thousands of potential legal issues, obligations and flexibilities that would depend on the detail...).

Good luck.

[Wanderer]

Do you know this document: "confirmation to placement"? And do you think it can create any obligations from my side? All situation seems very unclear for me.

Me too. Have you actually signed a contract to do the work yet? If not then perhaps this is some sort of Letter of Intent, but it's unlikely to be legally binding. Just tell the agency you are not going to take the job and no further discussion will be entered into.

They will respond with vague threats (probably verbal rather than written) to try and bully you into taking the job, threaten to sue you for "damages" or tell you that "you will never work in the the city again" etc. Just ignore the whole lot and get on with finding a new job.

A few weeks later they will probably call you up about another job they have for you.

You may also want to do a search for the agency's name on this forum....

[ChrisPackit]

From my experience, Huxley are a set of knobs.

Had a gig lined up a while back offering £300 / day through Huxley. In the meantime, saw the same role advertised through another PS at £350 / day. I knew I would get to interview but Huxley phoned me first to say "congratulations, they want to see you!" so I politely declined and made some BS up about another role. Then they started all this hype about how unprofessional I was being and phoned me about another 6 times to talk me into going and ended up saying, in not so many words, that I'd never work through them again.

When I got to interview, the client even said that Huxley had ****ed too many things up...

I know this doesn't help, but just thought I'd share my experience

[pmeswani]

Hello,

I've found some difficulties working with Huxley. I was going to take a contract which would be organized/setup by Huxley. I passed interview with client and we moved to organizing paperwork. During that it turned out that formal organization is not exactly what I've expected: management companies are not very transparent and net salary promised is unreal to achieve without so called "creative accountant".

Therefore I would like to cancel whole process. When I asked Huxley for such possibility I have been told that I've already accept the offer and if I resign now Huxley then will be able to claim "an consequences".

It was quite surprising for me, since we haven't signed any agreement yet. The only document which I've signed is "confirmation to placement with COMPANY_X". But this document states only some general information about placement and says nothing about any obligation which might be created by it. From my perspective it look like Huxley's internal document (I don't know what Huxley need it for), for sure it doesn't look to be some "preliminary agreement" or something like that.
Do you know this document: "confirmation to placement"? And do you think it can create any obligations from my side?

All situation seems very unclear for me.

Never sign a contract without knowing what you are letting yourself in for. If there is a penalty clause in your contract with Huxley, then you have to honour it. If you have signed a contract that says you will work for any company that makes you an offer via Huxley, then you may be obliged to accept the contract. You will have to read the T's and C's to see what it says about handing your notice in. If there is a mention of a penalty clause, you have to honour it. If there isn't, you should request clarification from Huxley to confirm what consequences they refer to. If they threaten legal action, I would suggest taking your contract to a solicitor of some sort and check out your legal position, and if Huxley have no leg to stand on, you may want to get the Solicitor to send them a letter stating that. If Huxley still insist on taking legal action, your next step is court action. Good luck.