Company not giving proper notice

[Magnus]

Go on then.

Oh okay.. I got my half-month's payout plus some extra for the additional work I did. They rejected two of my quotes for some work they still needed doing, so I said to myself: stuff this, did the minimal amount of work to satisfy the requirements (and a little bit more I just could not leave undone), and just gave it to them and asked for my two weeks. Plus what they thought the other stuff was worth. They gave me a bit extra which I was quite happy with.

Lots of whingeing on my part (Aussie whingeing, hasn't failed yet ), and luckily no threats required.

The misunderstanding happened because a) I assumed what was best for me and b) they're a small startup where money is tight and they assumed the same for themselves.

I'm happy with the outcome, and especially that they gave me a job at the beginning and the skills I picked up. I hope they're happy too. They did ask me before if I would like to work for them again once more work (and money) comes in, and I'm quite willing to do that.

[The Farmer]

This story ended quite happily

Go on then.

[Magnus]

This story ended quite happily

[Ardesco]

From what I can see you were told on the 20th (by your own admission) that they were going to cancel your contract so you don't really have a leg to stand on.

If you want some money out of them do the sourceforge thing otherwise chalk it up to experiance.

[Magnus]

Look at my posts outside this thread, chief

[Paddy]

Oh for the day when we get an Aussie on the forum that is not whinging and oh for the day that I find one that is helpful rather than asking for help.

[Magnus]

Thanks for the replies so far..

I don't 'do' threats, unfortunately.

I signed an NDA before I started and even though my work is all self-contained and written by me, it would be hard to separate out the stuff that I wrote during the time I haven't been paid for so I could post it on my web site.

I didn't delete my work from their server, or roll it back to the state it was in two weeks after they claim they gave my notice. It would be perfectly in my rights to have done that though, wouldn't it?

Also, about fact that I continued to turn up for work (in a virtual sense) after my supposed finish date and no-one at the company said anything: would that mean the client should still be held to the terms of the contract? I'm thinking about the case where a contractor starts working before anyone has signed anything: the contract automatically goes into effect anyway. Would the same sort of principle apply to my situation?

Finally, should the client have any right to use my application? It doesn't seem fair to me. Accepting my work and putting it to use would be another factor which continues to bind them to the contract, would it not?

Note: I edited my first post, but the changes didn't go through (my fault..).. They didn't affect the meaning, but one fact that I left out is that I'm working from Australia, not the UK as MarillionFan has supposed.

I don't think I'm really being 'conned' as people put it, I think it's a case of the company genuinely not understanding its obligations. I've known the person I've been mostly dealing with there for a very long time, and my relationship to her is much, much more important than any money involved (even though under my current financial situation it's made it severely uncomfortable for me not to have been paid). But I'm a person with a very strong sense of right and wrong, I'm much more interested in the answers to the questions I posed aboved.

[cojak]

Listen to MF, ignore Tazman - threaten to put it onto SourceForge...

[ChimpMaster]

Yep, put the code on the net and while ur at it upload a virus onto their server!

[MarillionFan]

Did you work on site or was this done remotely?

Answer. Remotely.

Yes, looks like you have been conned. If it was the UK then maybe you could do something about it, but as it's Czech more difficult

Personally I would tell them to pay for the extra work otherwise you stick their product and all the code on the internet because as far as you are concerned they havent paid for it.

Let's see them hussle then!!!!

[threaded]

Looks like you've been conned. Move on.

[Magnus]

Hello all,
For the past few months I've been working from home over the internet for a small company in the Czech Republic. The contract specified two weeks' notice by either party to end the agreement.

Around the 20th of December I spoke to one of the people from the company (by voice using Skype), and I was told the company had decided to give me my notice. We had a bit of a discussion about it, and the person said it wasn't her choice, but that she would talk to her boss and get back to me in the afternoon (Czech time) or the next day.

I didn't hear from her, so two days later I got in touch with her again, but she was just rushing out the door to catch a plane and didn't have time to tell me anything. So at this point I didn't know what was happening, though I thought it was more likely than not that I would be kept on because surely I would have been told otherwise. But just in case, I started doing some of the things I would need to if I was being terminated.

Over the next couple of weeks absolutely nothing happened that would suggest I was finishing: no request for a handover and walkthrough of my work, no instructions on what to do during my last two weeks (so I just continued working on what I had been doing), no arrangements for what sort of support I could give them afterwards, no acknowledgement or thank-yous for my work, no request for a final invoice with the correct amount of pay calculated (pay was actually specified at a monthly rate in the contract, so there would be a little confusion in working out exactly how much two weeks' pay is), no notice of what my exact final day would be.

Then the person I mainly dealt with at the company returned from her break, and I continued working as before. I spoke to her most days about what I was doing, and what I should do next. I uploaded my work to their server every few days or so (whenever it needed doing so she could see my work).

Two weeks after that (about a week and a half ago), my pay was due again, and I asked her what the format of my invoice should be (she had said a couple of months previously they wanted some specific format, but they never got around to sending me a sample). She said I wasn't an employee anymore and that I had been given my notice on December 20! A couple of days later she said (by chat in Skype) she "negotiated" with her boss about what I should be paid, and it's only an amount equal to half a month's pay. This would be the absolute minimum required if I was given proper notice in December. But I continued working until just a few days ago, and I know they are using the products of my work (the boss is going on a road trip demoing my application to companies/govt departments he wants to sell it to).

So, what does everyone make of this situation?

(edited just a little bit for clarity and style)