Contract terminated with immediate efect - no written notice? What are my rights?

[sijjery]

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[The Lone Gunman]

If you worked for a week then they pay you for a week, then they pay you any notice period.
If you only attended 1 day then accept the one week gracefully, it might work out in the long run.

If you have a contact with the guy in Manchester you might want to ask him if he can set up a direct contract internal to his department.

I am getting a sneaky feeling that there is some politics being played between the agent and the client that is hitting you.

[Chico]

Tricky at first reading it sounds like you have been hard done by, contracts get terminated for a myriad of reasons - funds drying up, personal ambivalence etc. I would chase the extra weeks payment stating clearly you are not in breach of your terms and if they feel you are to provide documentary evidence to qualify. However on a practical note you need to decide if it is worth the hassle - unfortunately contracting can be summed up as easy to hire and easy to fire hence the charm and the harm. All the best - keep us posted.

[Captain Jack]

Hoi sijjery, don't post your question in multiple threads. It wastes everyone's time.

[Denny]

Contract terminated with immediate efect - no written notice? What are my rights?

Hello,
I'm a first-time contractor and just had my contract terminated for no good reason and want to know if I can claim a weeks notice period. To give you the background:

I got offered a 6 month contract through Square One recruitment agency working with IBM to start on 10/04/06 to finish 30/09/06. It stated on the contract that the 'Agency Notice Period' was one week and the 'Contract Period' was 'Until 30 Spetember 2006 and subject in any event to any term permitting earlier termination'. The job was based in Manchester, where I was due to start on 18/04/06, after completing a week’s induction in London week beginning 10/04/06.

I attended the induction Mon-Thurs last week, where I was told that the person who was going to be taking me through the induction was off sick all week, and there was no hardware for me, so I got asked to do some background reading and so on and left to my own devices. They basically said “we’re really sorry but we haven’t got anything for you to do so just pass the time how you can”. On Thursday last week, 13/04/06, the manager from Manchester, who I would be working for, came to see me to talk through what I would be doing when I started in Manchester the following Tuesday (18th). He left at lunchtime and said he was impressed that I’d gotten up to speed with what I should be doing and was looking forward to seeing me in Manchester on Tuesday.


At around 4pm on the same day, I got a call from my agent at Square One, saying that IBM had terminated my contract with immediate effect and I should get my timesheet signed and leave the building, which I did. When I asked him for the reason why they terminated the contract all he said was, there was some negative feedback from the team. However, I was never asked to do anything technical whatsoever as they didn’t have any hardware for me and they basically told me to sit in the corner and pass the time as best I could. At no point did anybody say I had done anything wrong or were unhappy with anything I’d done, in fact they were very apologetic for not being able to give me anything to do.


My agent said he would ring them up this Tuesday (18th) to find out what was going on as he thought there had been some sort of mix-up. However, he rang me at 10am on Tuesday and said my contract had indeed been terminated with immediate effect and the only reason he could give me was that there was some negative feedback from the team. About an hour later, I received a call from the manager in Manchester asking why I hadn’t turned up to the Manchester office as he was expecting me to start there and was under-staffed. I told him that I hadn’t come because my contract had been terminated and he said he was shocked and knew absolutely nothing about it, and as far as he was concerned he was very impressed with me and wanted me to start straight away. He said he was going to try and sort it out as he was sure there must have been some kind of mix-up. However, I still haven’t heard anything back by today, so I’m assuming that they have terminated the contract. I guess somebody higher up has made the decision.

What I would like to know is: they haven’t given me anything in writing to say why my contract has been terminated, is this allowed? It does say in the contract that 'This contract may be terminated by us giving you written notice of the Agency Notice Period, to expire at any time'. All I've had is a telephone call from the agent saying the contract had been terminated with immediate effect.

Theyve said they'll pay me for one week, but if the notice period is one week am I also entitled to get paid for an extra week?

Sorry if any of this sounds daft but this is my first-time contracting and I don't know all the legal ins and outs.

Cheers,
Sij

I would look at your contract again. Were you opted out and were given terms to sign that clearly imply you were contractor OF services (implies true self employment) and not under the control of the client instead of contracted FOR services (bum on seat psuedo employee within IR35) in which case you should have stayed opted in and got paid via a brolly or paid yourself a market rate salary based on all your fee income minus 5% allowable dispensations.

If you are engaged on terms implying the former but have been terminated early for reasons other than your professional competency (and it seems as if fitting into the team was the reason given which has feck all to do with your professional competency, unless your manner and demeanour was so disruptive that it would generate problems to achieve objectives), I would consider suing the agency for the entire contract length. It doesn't matter if their own contract was not back to back with the clients and arranged with them that you were a bum on seat pseudo temp instead of a real buisness as their terms with you implied. The fact is, the agency have obtained services by deception by making it difficult to act out the terms of your contract properly and you can sue for terminations based on 'personality clashes and other 'personal for services reasons' like your face didn't fit and other permie type bunkem.

If you were a pseudo temp (within IR35 with no legtimate rights to operate your limited company with NI free divis) you could try going to the DTI (provided you remained opted in) but the most you would get is the notice period owed to you. It does seem, however, that even if you were acting as a real business if you actually had no or little work to do on site then you really can't complain. This is the risk any business would have to embrace because they would assume you would have other work to slot in during those times you weren't busy and weren't causing you unreasonable hardship. Different story though if you were a bum of seat pseudo employee expected to be int he office 5 days a weeks and not able to work elsewhere without displaying a 'lack of commitment to the role' which could justifiably get you terminated.

It's worth looking into. I've done this when similar has happened to me and won. The agency normally give up fighting when they know you mean business and if it's only a week's money they will probably shell out themselves without rocking the boat with the client.

[sijjery]

Thanks for the replies

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[eternalnomad]

Guy's. Thanks for your replies. Sorry for the multiple posting but wasn't sure where the best place to post was.

I did do a whole week and not just one day and they've said I'll get paid for that.

I feel like the guy from the agency has been taking the piss, because when I said to him 'what about my notice period?', he said 'oh just forget about it, this kind of stuff happens all the time and look for a new job'

He knows I'm new to contracting and he seems to have given me false info as well, because I've read the contract and it does clearly state they have to give me written notification, but he said a phone call was enough.

I'm pissed off because I turned down another contract last week, which has now gone. I knew when I got the contract that it was on a 1-week notice period and all I want is what's due to me. I did one week's work and feel they should pay me for the notice period, especially as I've done absolutely nothing wrong and the manager from Manchester was very keen for me to start.

Denny: Do you really think I can sue them for the length of the entire contract?

Cheers,
Sij

Edited because I think I know who you are and its not "fair" to discuss on a public forum

[BlasterBates]

Focus on getting a new contract, but chase up the weeks pay, you are entitled to it, and if they don't cough up threaten legal action. Send an invoice, giving them reasonable time to pay, then a reminder, then threaten legal action and then go and see a lawyer. If your contract says 1 weeks notice you're entitled to it. Ignore letters or comments about "negative" feedback, that's just baloney.

[Underscore2]

Ignore the agents

and talk to the manager again - if he wants you in - go via another agent. Just phone Lorien or someone - they'll do it for you.

[whyme]

I believe IBM now only use Hays as the preferred IT supplier. It's unlikely a company that size would allow a manager to employ a contractor directly