Urgent: Can I Sue?

[thunderlizard]

I made friends with the guys at company B

Including the boogie-woogie bugle boy?

(sorry...but when will I ever get the chance to make that one again?)

As you have discovered, it's all down to the contract terms.
I do mainly agree that contractors charge a premium for flexibility, and if the work evaporates for whatever reason you shouldn't be shocked, subject to contract of course. But another bit of me keeps seeing more successful companies (ok, mainly Accenture) making their millions by estimating [x days * rate y], finishing the work in [x/3 days], and charging [£x*y], and I do get a tad jealous!

[NickFitz]

In the meantime I've hit the ground running and lined up a couple of interviews elsewhere. There just isn't any time as a contractor for dusting yourself off sadly

That's the spirit! To hell with the timewasters

Oh and whoever said make friends, you were spot on I made friends with the guys at company B, who were a bit miffed when the sales guy at company A called them to harass them into finding something for me to do for another two months two weeks... They have said if they need more work done, they may just email me...

Even better!

Good luck with the interviews

[Jsecure]

Oh and whoever said make friends, you were spot on I made friends with the guys at company B, who were a bit miffed when the sales guy at company A called them to harass them into finding something for me to do for another two months two weeks... They have said if they need more work done, they may just email me...

[Jsecure]

From the look of a lot of the posts, people are misreading what I typed and thinking I was contracting through an agent, for company A.

Actually, I was contracting through an agent, to company A, who said, we want someone for three months, and they were then supplying me to company B.

Problem was a rogue salesguy at company A assumed a ten day bit of work would take three months (???) - I'm going to assume it was his first day, as how you can overestimate a project by that much is beyond me.

In speaking with my recruiters, they say there was a week's notice period in the contract, so they're going to extract that from company A for me. Despite company A saying they needed a guy for three months of work, company A's contract to supply to company B, was a day by day contract, so they had no idea three months of work would be required. Company B are pretty blameless. They just hired their guy from company A on a one day contract, each day, till the job was done.

Ultimately I don't think I'll ever work for company A again, as they seem pretty dodgy and they can be said to massively overinflate the length of contracts, and pull out of contracts less than half way through - all stuff which as a contractor I don't need.

In the meantime I've hit the ground running and lined up a couple of interviews elsewhere. There just isn't any time as a contractor for dusting yourself off sadly

I don't think I'll sue as it'd probably be very technical and complex (read: expensive) and in a brilliant perfect outcome I'd probably only get the rest of my contract, if that.

It's a problem at the moment. We have to be flexible, we're contractors. But as a LAMP developer I'm finding the rates very depressed at the moment, which means I'm really running close to the edge taking the rates I take (between 200, 250 a day) and trying to have a huge nest egg for downtime.

Oh well. Thanks for your advice guys. The general message, dust off, move on, I think was right

[Gonzo]

I am really sorry to sound so harsh, but we justify the premium that we charge based on the flexibility that we provide our clients.

They needed you for ten days, you've done the work, charge them and move on.

If you can't live with that then maybe you should consider going back to permiedom.


It was mentioned ealier on, but despite the start and end dates in the contract, there is almost certainly a clause stating that they are not obliged to provide you with work, and you are not obliged to take it. On that basis you would have no grounds to sue anyone. But that clause is a good thing by the way.

[tay]

You did a 3 month long job in 10 days? Fool

[Mustang]

Aren't you talking about mutuality of obligation? Mal will be along in a minute to tell you all about it.

Upshot is, don't waste time trying to sue. Use your time constructively finding another gig.

And by the way, you're not employed by them...

WHS

[zathras]

I have recently started a three month contract, via a recruiter. I am working with a company which is a big multinational, selling software solutions business to business.

I have worked at the client of my client for ten days, and now the project has finished. It has turned out the sales guy at the multinational software solutions place dreamed up that the job would take three months. It took ten days. The client of the client are finished with me, and I have nowhere to go tomorrow.

Point remains though, that I have written confirmation from my recruiter of having accepted and started a three month contract with the big multinational, and I have an exact start and end date, and daily rate, in the email and everything.

I'm thinking the recruitment company must have a counterpart written contract between them and the multinational, to supply me for three months.

Now to my thinking, it's a crying shame for the multinational that their client no longer requires me, but they must have signed a three month contract to buy in my time and skills, between the two rigidly defined dates (start date, end date) at the exact defined daily rate in the contract, which will be slightly higher than what I get, cause the recruiter and their company hold the contract, and they take their cut etc, etc.

So my thinking is, even if I get the job of shuffling papers at the multinational's offices, surely I am now employed by them, regardless of the whims of any of their own clients, for three months. And whatever happens, I should be able to get the full pay from the three month contract.

I'm thinking I should do the following:

i) Ask my recruiter for a full copy of the contract between them and the multinational for use in court.

ii) Speak to a solicitor about making a claim for compensation for the remainder of the contract still to run.

What do you guys think? I guess there's always the possibility the recruitment company have a dodgy contract with the multinational that has some crazy get out clause in case of subclient changing mind type thing, but if no such clause exists, do you think my case is good?

I would suggest 'No' - you are a freelancer and having a job end early is just as much part of the role as getting renewals.

Surely you had some idea that the work would finish early, in which case why were you not still looking?

[RandyW]

Aren't you talking about mutuality of obligation? Mal will be along in a minute to tell you all about it.

Upshot is, don't waste time trying to sue. Use your time constructively finding another gig.

And by the way, you're not employed by them...

And lesson for next time, it's easy to spin out 10 days work into 3 months

[ratewhore]

Aren't you talking about mutuality of obligation? Mal will be along in a minute to tell you all about it.

Upshot is, don't waste time trying to sue. Use your time constructively finding another gig.

And by the way, you're not employed by them...

[slawrence]

termination clause

Check your contract for a termination clause. It should contain a stated period, i.e. 4 weeks, 2 weeks should you or the end client wish to terminate early.

[slackbloke]

I have recently started a three month contract, via a recruiter. I am working with a company which is a big multinational, selling software solutions business to business.

I have worked at the client of my client for ten days, and now the project has finished. It has turned out the sales guy at the multinational software solutions place dreamed up that the job would take three months. It took ten days. The client of the client are finished with me, and I have nowhere to go tomorrow.

Point remains though, that I have written confirmation from my recruiter of having accepted and started a three month contract with the big multinational, and I have an exact start and end date, and daily rate, in the email and everything.

I'm thinking the recruitment company must have a counterpart written contract between them and the multinational, to supply me for three months.

Now to my thinking, it's a crying shame for the multinational that their client no longer requires me, but they must have signed a three month contract to buy in my time and skills, between the two rigidly defined dates (start date, end date) at the exact defined daily rate in the contract, which will be slightly higher than what I get, cause the recruiter and their company hold the contract, and they take their cut etc, etc.

So my thinking is, even if I get the job of shuffling papers at the multinational's offices, surely I am now employed by them, regardless of the whims of any of their own clients, for three months. And whatever happens, I should be able to get the full pay from the three month contract.

I'm thinking I should do the following:

i) Ask my recruiter for a full copy of the contract between them and the multinational for use in court.

ii) Speak to a solicitor about making a claim for compensation for the remainder of the contract still to run.

What do you guys think? I guess there's always the possibility the recruitment company have a dodgy contract with the multinational that has some crazy get out clause in case of subclient changing mind type thing, but if no such clause exists, do you think my case is good?

Ultimately, any contract between the client and agent has nothing to do you/your company. However, is there no termination clause in your contract with the agent? I think if there isn't (which would make it poor contract on the agents part) then you still have no grounds. What exactly did the agent say after the 10 days? As you have or presumably will be paid for the 10 days, I think your best option is to just move on, there would be very little gain from the time and money to sue.

[RichardCranium]

Random thoughts:

Normally all that matters is the contract between you and your client which ni this case sounds like the agency. Other contracts have nothing to do with you.

Are you PAYE or Ltd Co.? That might make a difference.

Firstly, turn up. If you fail to turn up you will be in breach of contract and you've lost before you start. It doesn't matter if they won't let you on the premises, just make sure you phone the agency from Reception.

Do not rely on the recruitment agent being on your side - 2 months of commission is of no interest to them but keeping their client sweet is.

Also, it is not uncommon to simply be told in cases like this that "your work was unsatisfactory" and there is nothing much you can do about that.

If this were ever to go to court (it won't), you will only get compensation for losses. You must make an effort to minimise those losses, so get your CV out today and let agents know you are free again. You might have another gig on Monday!

Try and see if your agent is partly human: explain you will be in deep trouble financially and need another gig ASAP.

If you are a contractor: this is why companies use contractors. Do not expect full employment rights: you get extra money to compensate for not having them.

If they have finished with you, try and get your business card in the hands of the people you worked with, and make sure they know you were really happy to be there and would be happy to take on more work within the organisation.

[BrilloPad]

Personally I would turn up at the multinational - and do whatever I was given. They may well have other clients waiting?

People have posted here about similar circumstances and how spurious claims were then made to terminate contract early.

[Jsecure]

I have recently started a three month contract, via a recruiter. I am working with a company which is a big multinational, selling software solutions business to business.

I have worked at the client of my client for ten days, and now the project has finished. It has turned out the sales guy at the multinational software solutions place dreamed up that the job would take three months. It took ten days. The client of the client are finished with me, and I have nowhere to go tomorrow.

Point remains though, that I have written confirmation from my recruiter of having accepted and started a three month contract with the big multinational, and I have an exact start and end date, and daily rate, in the email and everything.

I'm thinking the recruitment company must have a counterpart written contract between them and the multinational, to supply me for three months.

Now to my thinking, it's a crying shame for the multinational that their client no longer requires me, but they must have signed a three month contract to buy in my time and skills, between the two rigidly defined dates (start date, end date) at the exact defined daily rate in the contract, which will be slightly higher than what I get, cause the recruiter and their company hold the contract, and they take their cut etc, etc.

So my thinking is, even if I get the job of shuffling papers at the multinational's offices, surely I am now employed by them, regardless of the whims of any of their own clients, for three months. And whatever happens, I should be able to get the full pay from the three month contract.

I'm thinking I should do the following:

i) Ask my recruiter for a full copy of the contract between them and the multinational for use in court.

ii) Speak to a solicitor about making a claim for compensation for the remainder of the contract still to run.

What do you guys think? I guess there's always the possibility the recruitment company have a dodgy contract with the multinational that has some crazy get out clause in case of subclient changing mind type thing, but if no such clause exists, do you think my case is good?