Reply to: recruitement agency wont pay as end client did not sign timesheet

[joymasch]

Speak to a debt collectors like Safe Collections and get them started on it. You will be surprised how quickly you get results when it's clear you won't back down.

finally a useful suggestion!!

[Wanderer]

i am writing because i am trying to keep legal actions as last resort.

Legal action is a long and slow process but if negotiation has failed then that's your final option. You will have to start with the Umbrella because that is who you have a contract with. They will then pressure the agency who will pressure the client. Most likely the agency or the client will crack, the umbrella is just the man in the middle and they can't be bothered fighting your case for you unless they are forced to.

Speak to a debt collectors like Safe Collections and get them started on it. You will be surprised how quickly you get results when it's clear you won't back down.

Anything other than that is just moaning about it and you won't get anywhere.

Either do it or stop complaining.

[joymasch]

i am not writing to complain at all: i am writing because i am trying to keep legal actions as last resort. whoever i spoke to that went thru legal actions, confirmed that it is a long, expensive and painful process.
that is why i am trying to find a solution that can maybe force either the client to sign the timesheet or the agency to pay.
so, if someone went thru this and managed, please tell me how.
guessing or saying they must pay etc etc will not help: bottom line: as it is, the client is not willing to sign the timesheet because they angry i have left, the agency does not want to pay because i don't produce a signed timesheet which is a requirement in the contract and the umbrella doesn't want to take action, aside from being in touch with the agency. and i have the feeling that the more i push them the more they backup with some legal excuses on why they cannot do that.

[GB9]

not if i have a contract as an independent: their contract requires a signed timesheet as well.
point being that i do not have to quit the umbrella but as they are the ones acting on my behalf for my actual contract, i do not think it is a good idea to take them to court. They will not take legal action against the agency, i am on my own in that.

They will if you take action against them.

If you can prove you were on site then you won't need signed timesheets.

Either do it or stop complaining.

[joymasch]

not if i have a contract as an independent: their contract requires a signed timesheet as well.
point being that i do not have to quit the umbrella but as they are the ones acting on my behalf for my actual contract, i do not think it is a good idea to take them to court. They will not take legal action against the agency, i am on my own in that.

[blacjac]

3) I had no access but i was given jobs to do, which were outside of my scope but i accepted as that department was overwhelmed and my department was not.

OK, that makes it a little clearer. As others have said, the people who owe you money for this work is your employer the umbrella company.
Whether or not they get paid by their customer is none of your business or concern.

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

i am working as independent also towards the umbrella: if i quit them, i will have to interrupt my actual contract where i am quite happy; besides, if i understand correctly, at the end of the day when it comes to sue the agency, no umbrella does! but my position gives me to
he possibility to have the invoice assigned to me in order to put pressure.
hence, the request of input from someone who went thru something similar

You have no reason to 'quit' your umbrella company - as others have said, they are your employer and the responsibility lies with them to recover the debt from the agency. It may be that they have had both sides of the story and their legal advisors have stated that there is no case to answer but, even so, they should give you a detailed response explaining why. They can't assign the debt to you as it was generated as a result of the contractual relationship between the agency and the umbrella - your contract is with the umbrella

[joymasch]

i am working as independent also towards the umbrella: if i quit them, i will have to interrupt my actual contract where i am quite happy; besides, if i understand correctly, at the end of the day when it comes to sue the agency, no umbrella does! but my position gives me to
he possibility to have the invoice assigned to me in order to put pressure.
hence, the request of input from someone who went thru something similar

[DirtyDog]

i am not pursuing the umbrella because it seems to me that they will not give the maximum, beside refusing to pursue the matter legally. they gave me all kind of "reasons" of why i would lose and i don't buy it. but that shows me that they will not do the job properly

You are an employee of the umbrella. The only people that you have a contract with are the umbrella. The only people who can get you the money are the umbrella.

If you choose not to pursue the people that you have a contract with, then that's up to you. Best of luck with it.

[kal]

the endclient was happy: i wasn't....it was a very frustrating project and, as far as i know, trial period is given on both sides for that! if the client is not happy they can, during trial period, just terminate the contract without explanations. I was unhappy, I followed the rules in the contract and requested to leave. The client is angry because they did not expect it.
I thank you all for your inputs and opinions but what would actually help i think would be the reply of someone that had a similar problem and managed to solve it.
how? who helped you? what did you do? who paid the expenses?
i am not pursuing the umbrella because it seems to me that they will not give the maximum, beside refusing to pursue the matter legally. they gave me all kind of "reasons" of why i would lose and i don't buy it. but that shows me that they will not do the job properly

Jeez... you need to chase your EMPLOYER for monies owed, i.e. the Umbrella company, the fact that they don't seem to give a stuff about this but you are still happy to keep paying them and working for them is surprising to say the least...

[joymasch]

the endclient was happy: i wasn't....it was a very frustrating project and, as far as i know, trial period is given on both sides for that! if the client is not happy they can, during trial period, just terminate the contract without explanations. I was unhappy, I followed the rules in the contract and requested to leave. The client is angry because they did not expect it.
I thank you all for your inputs and opinions but what would actually help i think would be the reply of someone that had a similar problem and managed to solve it.
how? who helped you? what did you do? who paid the expenses?
i am not pursuing the umbrella because it seems to me that they will not give the maximum, beside refusing to pursue the matter legally. they gave me all kind of "reasons" of why i would lose and i don't buy it. but that shows me that they will not do the job properly

[DirtyDog]

1) I am still working with the umbrella company for another contract: I have no interest in pissing them off. If already, I am trying to get them to transfer the invoice to me

Why are you worried about upsetting them? You are the client here, so they should be providing you with a service - if not, then move to another umbrella. If they will not chase the invoice, then your options are limited. Have a look at employment tribunals, or small claims court - if you are owed money and your employer isn't paying you, then you need to force their hand.

2) the client doesn't pay because i left the project. they obviously did not have the same regulations for leaving with the agency as the agency had with me.

If the client doesn't pay the agency, and you are opted into the agency regulations, and you have done the work, then you get paid and the agency has to deal with the client. Have you spoken to the agency?

3) I had no access but i was given jobs to do, which were outside of my scope but i accepted as that department was overwhelmed and my department was not. aside from that, I have emails between the project manager and myself in which i complain about the lack of accesses after 3 weeks on the job and she replies by excusing herself and stating she will take care of it. I even had my start of contract postponed a week, the evening before i was supposed to start because my laptop and accesses were not ready! and it took another 3 weeks to have this done!!

The last part is irrelevant - you should be paid for the work that you did, so get chasing with the umbrella and agency.

4) i have a download from the client internal application of the hours and days spent on the various projects and activities, part even trying to install applications that the client was supposed to provide in order to be able to work

So you can prove that you did the work. Push the umbrella to chase for the work that you did.

5) I think i opted out: i did not pay too much attention because in my entire career, i never had any problem; it seems to me that this is becoming a common practice as of late.

Check - look at what you signed, when you signed it. Ask the umbrella whether they opted out, when they did it, who signed it etc. Determine you opt out status - you will need to know it, and saying "I didn't pay much attention to it..." will not help your case.

[Safe Collections]

So to clarify, the contractual chain looks like this:

You --> Brolly --> Agency --> End Client

Yes?

If the above is accurate and you are operating via a "standard" Umbrella Co then your best bet is to chase them for the money. Let the brolly worry about the agency paying or not, they'll have a credit control/legal department for that.

If you get the debt assigned to you personally, you will be doing the brollys job for them!

[psychocandy]

Right so you handed in notice early on in the gig?

Sounds like they werent too happy then? I'd say if you were there and doing if they chose not to give you access then they've got to pay you.

If you'd handed in notice and they'd said ok dont come back then it'd be different.

[GB9]

thyank you all for the replies.
1) I am still working with the umbrella company for another contract: I have no interest in pissing them off. If already, I am trying to get them to transfer the invoice to me
2) the client doesn't pay because i left the project. they obviously did not have the same regulations for leaving with the agency as the agency had with me.
3) I had no access but i was given jobs to do, which were outside of my scope but i accepted as that department was overwhelmed and my department was not. aside from that, I have emails between the project manager and myself in which i complain about the lack of accesses after 3 weeks on the job and she replies by excusing herself and stating she will take care of it. I even had my start of contract postponed a week, the evening before i was supposed to start because my laptop and accesses were not ready! and it took another 3 weeks to have this done!!
4) i have a download from the client internal application of the hours and days spent on the various projects and activities, part even trying to install applications that the client was supposed to provide in order to be able to work
5) I think i opted out: i did not pay too much attention because in my entire career, i never had any problem; it seems to me that this is becoming a common practice as of late.

Why are you bothered about upsetting a brolly that owes you money? Have they promised to find you work to keep you sweet? How do you know they haven't been paid?

If you were onsite for 3 wks it is irrelevent whether or not you had sys access. That is their problem. You said they delayed you for a week so understandably no pay for that but once you were on site.

Unless you are prepared to upset the brolly then save you efforts.