Reply to: Notice Period Pay

[mrv]

Hi All,

First time posting on here, and also my first contract role, so please excuse me if this is a dumb question:

My contract has been terminated early, and they do not need me to work my notice period, does this mean I can invoice the client my notice period?

You can always try. Read your contract and see what it says about early termination and notice periods. Talk to your agent first (helps if you're on good terms with him/her), as it will be the agent getting the money for you. Some people have succeeded (myself included), some not.

[northernladuk]

He only clarified that you are not the utter fool in question here.

Ahh. Thanks for the clarification

[expat]

And thabks for clarifying I'm not an utter fool. Nicest thing you've said to me

He only clarified that you are not the utter fool in question here.

[billybiro]

Ask yourself this - if you'd agreed to pay a builder for days worked (as long as work was available AND you were happy fro them to do it), would you expect to pay them their notice period if there was no work to do and/or you were unhappy with them?

You are the builder.

Bad analogy.

You're most likely going to pay some percentage of the whole cost up front to the builder (who has to purchase goods and materials) for some amount of building work you want him to perform.

Imagine you want your kitchen extended and it'll take 2 weeks. You agree to pay 25% up front with the rest on completion, but after 2 days, you fire the builder.

Do you think you'd ever see any "refund" from the 25% you've already paid?

You are not the builder.

[ceebeepps]

I'm with sueellen, reason for termination is critical here. If project ended / no more work, then id check contract on t&c's, consider commercially whether you want / need that reference and the contract value to you "to date" versus notice period etc. Need a bit more info on why it ended...

[SueEllen]

My contract has been terminated early, and they do not need me to work my notice period, does this mean I can invoice the client my notice period?

It depends on why your contract has been terminated early.

I've had basically same wording in a contract and have been paid off due to being suddenly told out of the blue that the contract was being terminated early, and on the other occasion due to knowing in advance that there was no more work in 2 weeks wasn't paid off. However I tend to ask the client how long they expect the project to last when meeting them for the first time or in subsequent days.

If the issue is that the agency and/or client has mislead you about the length of the contract then invoice them and stand firm. You may have to drag it to court which is why recording phone calls and writing emails/notes during the contract is always a good idea. (Getting into legal trouble over terminating contracts early is why some clients have short extensions and short notice periods.)

In regards to signing time sheets the majority of my contracts state something along the lines that I need to prove a signed time sheet or other proof that I did the work. If I provide other proof then payment will be delayed. So you need to read your contract.

I only had one client try and refuse to sign a time sheet however as I had other proof I did the work (one reason why clients' don't like you using your own business email) the agency paid me then forced the client to cough up. I did indicate to the agency that due to the client's previous behaviour that I would be happy to go to court if they wanted me to. Strangely the threat of going to court and having various working practises aired was enough....

[Roger Mellie]

Hi All,

First time posting on here, and also my first contract role, so please excuse me if this is a dumb question:

My contract has been terminated early, and they do not need me to work my notice period, does this mean I can invoice the client my notice period?

No. You should concentrate on seeking your next contract. More importantly, you should think about breaking off with your former client on good terms. Think 'references' here. You want Client Co to be in the "yeah he's a good person, but we had to terminate the project for XYZ reasons" opinion when it comes to replying to future reference requests.

If you want 'notice period' free money then either go back to permie-land or hire a decent legal representative to negotiate water tight contracts on your behalf for future gigs, good luck with the latter.

[northernladuk]

And thabks for clarifying I'm not an utter fool. Nicest thing you've said to me

[northernladuk]

Utter rubbish unless you have something in your contract that no other contractor I know does.

Is there anything in this mythical contract you refer to that says MOO can only be used at the conclusion of your contract?

Id wager no, there isnt.

MOO is an effective clause throughout the period of the contract. They and we, can serve MOO any time during the contract period.

I know there seems to be some kind of urban myth perpetrated by, well, I wont mention the utter fool (its not NLUK!), that MOO can only be used by the client.

Again, unless its in someone's contract that MOO is one sided, no, it goes both ways ie both client and contractor has full right to use it.

Well to hold my hand up I'm still not convinced a client turning round one day and saying don't come in or a contractor saying I don't want to do any more in the middle of the contractor is MoO. It's something but not the same MoO that covers obligations to give work after the contract ends. You have been given work, it's the contract you signed so surely you've got to do it. Problem is you are in a T&M basis so only paid for when the client wants you...or not.. I don't know for sure.

I keep changing my mind on this as we discuss it though.

I really wish someone would take withdrawing work/services mid contract to court so we could have some clarity on who's obliged to do what. It would be very interesting.

It might have already been tested but I'd also like to know what happens if a supplier is in a contract on a T&M basis and refuses to do the work.

[dty]

Here's what my contract says:

"Neither the Employment Business nor the Client is obliged to offer any work to the Supplier. The Employment Business, the Client and the Supplier are not obliged to offer or accept any contracts or services in addition to those specified in the schedule attached."

Obviously, I haven't tested this in a Court of Law, but that suggests to me that it applies at the level of the whole contract, not per-day.

[BolshieBastard]

Of course, whether they can effectively terminate your contract with no notice is another matter - read you contract to find out. Someone will jump in here soon and make a point about MOO. But I don't think MOO means they have the right to not offer work on a day-to-day basis. I think it means they don't have to offer you more work once the contract concludes (and you don't have to accept).

Utter rubbish unless you have something in your contract that no other contractor I know does.

Is there anything in this mythical contract you refer to that says MOO can only be used at the conclusion of your contract?

Id wager no, there isnt.

MOO is an effective clause throughout the period of the contract. They and we, can serve MOO any time during the contract period.

I know there seems to be some kind of urban myth perpetrated by, well, I wont mention the utter fool (its not NLUK!), that MOO can only be used by the client.

Again, unless its in someone's contract that MOO is one sided, no, it goes both ways ie both client and contractor has full right to use it.

[SlipTheJab]

And it would be useful to gen up on how the search works here. Loads of interesting stuff on this board above and beyond your question which might give you insights about what to do that you didn't think to ask.

How to search is here..

http://forums.contractoruk.com/welco...uk-forums.html

An example of how this works using your question is here

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=no...ntractoruk.com

HTH

And there it is!

[TykeMerc]

Ask yourself this - if you'd agreed to pay a builder for days worked (as long as work was available AND you were happy fro them to do it), would you expect to pay them their notice period if there was no work to do and/or you were unhappy with them?

You are the builder.

That would all depend on the nature of the agreed contract, there's no one size fits all answer.

[VectraMan]

Yes!

[northernladuk]

And it would be useful to gen up on how the search works here. Loads of interesting stuff on this board above and beyond your question which might give you insights about what to do that you didn't think to ask.

How to search is here..

http://forums.contractoruk.com/welco...uk-forums.html

An example of how this works using your question is here

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=no...ntractoruk.com

HTH