Working for free

[MarillionFan]

I am very highly strung today MF. And in my situation you would be too.
For old times sake, helpful comments please?

[Mich the Tester]

I have only worked for free once, for two days, and this was in very exceptional circumstances. A couple of years ago I managed a team of 25 people testing a core banking system. 6 of them were contractors, 19 were permie staff who had been moved to the project from operational roles. After a few months in which I reorganised the group, chucked out a couple of wasters and then hired a few contractors, motivated the group to work very hard on testing something in which they had lost belief, and work together in the right spirit, the bank suffered a bank run and went bust. I recieved an e-mail from the agent telling me that my contract was annulled as of 11h as the client was bust. The 19 permies would obviously be losing their jobs; all the permie managers pissed off home, leaving 19 people from my team with no line manager to whom to speak or even ask what they should do about their impending unemployment. I stayed on for 2 days, so that permie staff at the very least had a 'manager' to whom they could speak, ask questions, cry their eyes out or whatever they wanted to do, simply because I couldn't stand to abandon people who'd done good work for my team. I would not quickly agree to working for free in other circumstances.

[EternalOptimist]

That's what I thought. Right, time to jump.

Good advice EO.

I didnt say jump.

not right away. try to slow things down till the paperwork comes through, maybe once the process gets going, it will be fine, then think very carefully about the end of the gig. Try to quietly stop till you have been fully paid up

happened to me about a decade ago, the object is not to give the agency an excuse to short change you, whilst limiting your potential losses if they do turn rogue

[MarillionFan]

I didnt say jump.

He means fall. Preferably under a bus.

[Churchill]

Oi SY01, why not name the agency and then see if any of the rest of us have had any experiences (good or bad) with them?

[doodab]

Explain to them that unless they sort it out you'll be charging interest as per late payment act, and will take measures to recover the debt.

What does the contract say about termination in the event of a material breach?

[craig1]

At the risk of actually offering useful advice: Are you opted-out of the employment agencies regs?

- If not, point it out to them that you get paid regardless of whether they do or not and point out Regulation 12 specifically. Then start the dunning process.
- If you are, point them to the terms of your contract and start the dunning process.

[Paddy]

I am now concluding week 5 of my current contract.
I have an agency. The agency is contracted to the consultancy. The consultancy has the end client.

As per my contract I did a months work, got my timesheet signed by the PM (consultancy) and submitted my invoice.

Then I got told I needed to be registered on an electronic timesheet system with the consultancy, and unless I did this the agency would not get paid.

So reluctantly I did this. I cannot complete my electronic copy of the timesheet as I have not been set up properly and they are investigating. I understand from the PM this could take a while as they (the consultancy) are very beaurocratic.

Meanwhile the agency are refusing to pay until they get paid.

This is the first invoice mind.

Having not had any money in since June, and we are now approaching mid October things are more than a little tight.

Time to jump? Sue? Send the nutters round? Sit tight?

TIA

Had the same one contract, I charged them £300 for delayed payment. They paid up without a fuss.

FFS why can’t IT contractors act like a business as do other professions?

[PAH]

The only time I've had problems with payment was when the agency was in its death throes.

The only way I could get them to pay (monthly over the course of several months) was to repeatedly threaten to down tools. I told the client I was having problems so they were aware it may have come to that.

Eventually the agency went bust (with the directors having withdrawn over 500k from the company) and lots of contractors (including me) lost their unpaid invoice amounts. The directors are now running another agency and will likely do the same again.

So my advice is to let everyone in the chain know you won't be in on Monday unless they sort it today.

[NotAllThere]

You're in the wrong forum for helpful advice. Why not try Accounting/Legal or Business/Contracts? In fact, you could search those forums to find the answers to your questions which have been answered time and time again.