Contract End Date and Day Off

[panadol]

Have a question regarding contract notice period and end date, hope someone can help? Thanks.

I have formally wrote to my agency to terminate my contract, and have given the required notice (4weeks), which happen to land on a bank monday holiday.

Client is not too pleased, as ideally they would like me to stay, for at least more than 4 weeks, I cannot.

Coincidently, I have a very important out of town 3-day wedding to attend, which is on the last 3-ish days (Wed-Fri) of the contract.

My question is:
1) Am I in breach of the contract termination notice period clause if I take those 3 days off? ie, effectively, taking the bank holiday into account, my last day on site is the Tue, ie, 3 weeks +1 day notice effectively.

2) If not in breach, can the client (from legal perspective) disapprove of my time off? From what I understand, they should not have control over me, esp for IR35 purpose.

Am in a situation which is rather unfortunate to have gotten into, but am trying to sort something out to not burn the entire bridge.

Thanks guys!

[Scruff]

1. You work for your Company, not the Client.
2. Your Company provides the services to the Client.
3. You can take the days off, as you please, since for as long as your Company doesn't mind, then your Company will grant you the leave do so.
4. Your Company has given the required notice, in terms of its contract with its Client.
5. Your Company will not be paid for the days by the Client where you are not in attendance, unless you have an unfettered right of substitution and can provide a substitute.


6. Its not likely that your Company (and its Employee) will be offered further work with its Client....

[Antman]

Take the day off, if the end-client is going to be petty about it then that tells you enough about wanting to go back to work there.

[panadol]

1. You work for your Company, not the Client.
2. Your Company provides the services to the Client.
3. You can take the days off, as you please, since for as long as your Company doesn't mind, then your Company will grant you the leave do so.
4. Your Company has given the required notice, in terms of its contract with its Client.
5. Your Company will not be paid for the days by the Client where you are not in attendance, unless you have an unfettered right of substitution and can provide a substitute.


6. Its not likely that your Company (and its Employee) will be offered further work with its Client....

Thanks for the help.
Yeah..ashame about (6)...

That's what I understood the business relationship and notice period.

The notice period is for terminating the contract, which *usually* determine the contractor's last day, which more often lies on the same day in most cases.

Am trying to negotiate an end date with client, but they are saying, 4 weeks, not a day less.

But I was thinking, "hang on, you cannot do this". I guess they are not used to dealing with contractors.

Another question:
1) If I do take a few days off before the last day they prefer. Can they sue for damages or anything as I am unable to finish the project ?

[Scruff]

Suing for damages....

Anyone can sue for anything, since Civil matters are not dealt with in the same manner as Criminal matters.

The success of a claim for damages (delictual damages) are restricted to the value of the actual damages incurred (there has to be a quantified "loss" or cost).

If they have to employ / contract another party to complete the project that your Company was contracted to have undertaken, but not completed, and you have no grounds for refuting this, then, theoretically, they might have grounds for success, based on the "balance of probabilities". You need to weigh this up, as part of your Business Risk on non-completion, if this is the case.

[panadol]

Suing for damages....

Anyone can sue for anything, since Civil matters are not dealt with in the same manner as Criminal matters.

The success of a claim for damages (delictual damages) are restricted to the value of the actual damages incurred (there has to be a quantified "loss" or cost).

If they have to employ / contract another party to complete the project that your Company was contracted to have undertaken, but not completed, and you have no grounds for refuting this, then, theoretically, they might have grounds for success, based on the "balance of probabilities". You need to weigh this up, as part of your Business Risk on non-completion, if this is the case.

Thanks again.

The contract 'Project spec' in the contract is rather a general. ie, design & build required tools, assist business users, project planning, etc.

With that in mind, not sure if I/company actually was contracted to 'complete' any project. Hence I suspect the chance of a law suit is rather minimal?

[SueEllen]

Thanks again.

The contract 'Project spec' in the contract is rather a general. ie, design & build required tools, assist business users, project planning, etc.

With that in mind, not sure if I/company actually was contracted to 'complete' any project. Hence I suspect the chance of a law suit is rather minimal?

We don't actually have a copy of your contract in front of
us to be able to give you an answer.

In general clients' don't sue contractors for not completing work as unless your skills are particularly niche or you are at a very high level, they can go to an agency and find another replacement for you. This is cheaper than the solicitor's fees they would have to pay.

[panadol]

We don't actually have a copy of your contract in front of you to be able to give you an answer.

In general clients' don't sue contractors for not completing work as unless your skills are particularly niche or you are at a very high level, they can go to an agency and find another replacement for you. This is cheaper than the solicitor's fees they would have to pay.

Thanks.

Ok, so it seems that I should stick to my plan to attend the important wedding.

I have already confirmed contract end date as per contractual terms ie, 4 weeks, with agency and client.
As I don't want to confuse client further (as they don't seems to know how contracting company works), I will simply tell them,

"I will be away on the 3 working days from <date> to <date>"

(ie, it have nothing to do with contract end date).

So I will be legally covered, having provided 4 weeks early termination notice, and during these 4 weeks, as a contractor with my ltd company's approval, to take days off.

All make legal sense?

[northernladuk]

... and I thought flexibility and being in charge of your own time was one of the main reasons people went contracting.

[panadol]

... and I thought flexibility and being in charge of your own time was one of the main reasons people went contracting.

Totally agree. The flexibility is why I contract. I want to work on multiple projects at once, I want to have control of my time, and I am bearing the uncertainty (at a cost/reward) for not having a comfortable full time employment with benefits and holidays.

However, sadly I noticed contracting ways have changed a lot in recent years.

Nowadays, I feel like many clients like to treat contractors as perms when they want, as many contractors are too worried to voice out or are uncertain of their position to begin with. (Lucky we have CUK to ask ) )

And often when I voiced out any matter, client managers were usually caught off-guard and freaked out. They don't understand the contracting-company/client relationship at all. So they would ring a lot of alarm bells, as they don't want to get into trouble themselves.

The saga continues...