On-call contract changing situation ...

[Angela_D]

[OK, this may be in the wrong forum so I don't mind if it is re-located.]

I've been at the same place for over 2 years (had the itchy feet thing a few times but this could be it.) and there were a few contractors in the early days. Politics have moved against contractors so I've been the only contractor there for the last year (apparently they like my work).

I do 40 hours (plus a touch more for goodwill) and that's it. In 2 years I've done a couple of Saturdays when we were pushed and was paid 1.5 for that. Anyway, after the 45 hour mark I find my efficacy declines. The perm staff cover on-call on a 4 week rota. 6am-9pm (plus 24/7 if critical) and receive (I think) just €40/day for that (called in or not). Call outs are about twice a week. Last week a guy was called in at 2am and stayed till 6pm as he lives a fair way out of town.

Internal reshuffle. New Latin manager has arrived on the scene and is keen to make his mark in various topics. Nobody is impressed. 2 weeks ago he put me in the rota starting 6am Monday and said there would be no compensation for that. I had some personal issues pre-occupying me and couldn't hack an argument right then but said there would have to be some payment. He kind of 1/2 nodded and walked off. No further words have materialised on the subject. He renowned as a very skilful talker (BSer) so I would need to be careful if I approach him again.

In my contract via an English EB: the hours are stipulated as

Standard working period - "As specified with Customer"

This is the typical contract with this client. It has always been 40 hours till now.

If I approach the agency: do I have a leg to stand on ?
Seems to me the hours could be absolutely anything and everything and change at random according to that wording.

I'd rather not piss off the client as I've made some excellent contacts. Plus I don't want to leave but I think I would over this. Maybe not legally but morally I feel one party is trying to change a signed agreement without the other party's consent.

I discovered that there is a super-contractor (think Threarded) who has stipulated On-call as 1.5 of his huge hourly rate plus 1.5 per hour if called in.

Monday: I intend to contact agent.

??????????????

did I write too much ?

[Angela_D]

Hmm ... found this related thread: http://forums.contractoruk.com/threa...0-on-call.html

Except in my contract I'm not sure if I'm in a position to neg.

[oraclesmith]

When you don't have hours specified in your contract it is more like a B2B for professional services, in which case the contractor is more in control of when and where they work.

In the other sort of contract, the hours per chargeable day, fee for additional hours and fee for on-call etc are all specified and signed off up front. This is going to be less like a B2B, but that depends a lot on the other control factors. If the client is more in control, then this would be a good route. In my opinion. If you've accepted you're inside IR35 then you may as well have one of these sort of contracts.

What you seem to have is the worst bits of both. You have a contract with an agency which doesn't specify hours and which the end-client seems to be in complete control of. You could raise it with the agency, but they probably don't care what hours you do providing they continue to get their cut. Remember it's a business and you have to look after yourself cos no-one else is going to.

In my opinion the agent is only going to help you sort it out if they are in danger of losing the contract, either by you dropping out or by the client causing problems. Either way you won't make yourself very popular so be prepared to play hardball.

What you could do would be call the agency and casually ask if they could forward a fresh copy of your contract for your file. They might have some original paperwork from the client about hours which they've inserted in their copy. In my opinion.

[Angela_D]

Cheers for the fast reply OracleSmith.

I'm going to reply properly later but one small thing to mention is that I'm not in UK and haven't been for many years so ir35 (one reason I quit) won't apply in this case.

You're quite right about the agency probably not giving a damn although they might like getting a cut of a larger invoice.

I can see somebody ending up pissed off when this is resolved. Hopefully not me.

[lukemg]

A permie manager I was unlucky enough to contract for was overheard describing how he considered contractors are there to be used, abused and to do the work no-one else wants to. This is fortunately an exception in most roles but can be found in many support roles.
Point is, they should have asked you to join any rota in place (even if they were adamant you were needed on it) and given you a chance to respond. Especially after you have been there 2 years, if you are new, they can make this clear on arrival.
I don't think they care if you leave, they can get someone else in on the terms they dictate, so they are happy to play hardball.
It is all about what you want, if you are not prepared to leave, then you have to suck it up. If you are prepared to go (personally I would be all over the job boards already), then you are in a position to say no, I am not prepared to be on-call.
Middle ground - you tell the agent what you want to go on the rota, you have already mentioned it to the manager, which is good. Your contract is with the agency, they are the people you deal with. Simply say you have been requested to join the rota and you will therefore be invoicing for x amount during the time you are on-call (send an email if you are unsure, you can get all the info in without getting stressed). This at the least will begin the discussion. It's business, not personal so keep it that way, you should sound as if it is the most routine thing to be indicating the additional fee you expect for the additional work.