Reply to: Client enforcing time away without notice period

[Wanderer]

Couldnt you then under your same rights given by MOO then decline to come back to do the work? And then get a contract somewhere else?

Sure, why not. It cuts both ways doesn't it. If you get another offer then just tell them that you are unavailable for the next 2 months, you are giving notice to terminate the contract and you won't be back onsite. They have to learn that cutting rates and forcing people to take time off when they are contracted to do a 5 day week isn't going to make for a good business relationship.

[Crack Addick]

Not Barclays but another bank is enacting this, shooting themselves in the foot though as some of the major projects are full of contractors with deliverables due end of this year.
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Which is why I'll deliberately be taking my 10 days off immediately before&after the Y/E change freeze next month. Let see how much quickness they get, when our small army of Bobs do the needful and feck it all up.

[cojak]

Or just book your 2 week ski holiday and bugger off....

Looking forward to it.

[portseven]

Not Barclays but another bank is enacting this, shooting themselves in the foot though as some of the major projects are full of contractors with deliverables due end of this year.

Expect there will be escalations and exceptions....

[SussexSeagull]

She signed it and almost completely worked it. No agent is going to change it retrospectively now. This is a must at the beginning of the next one though. The contract isn't the only flag, it is also the working conditions so she could be ok if the changes QDOS suggest are also evident in the workplace. The client has demonstrated there is no MOO by giving this notice so she isn't sunk if the contract says otherwise but deffo needs checking over.

I hunk we might be talking at cross purposes now!

[NotAllThere]

Play nicely people, please.

If you want to discuss who said what, or how to behave in the professional forums, take it to General.

[d000hg]

A big hug from D000hg would be nice though

I don't think I'm being more bitchy than you... just a bit of a balance so they don't all run away

[psychocandy]

Might I pose a hypothetical (for me at least, I am sure it has happened to someone)?

If a month into a three month contract you are told to take a month off due to lack of work then come back, is there a legal mechanism for getting out of the contract if you haven't got a notice period?

Couldnt you then under your same rights given by MOO then decline to come back to do the work? And then get a contract somewhere else?

Two contracts running concurrently - one of which you decline to work on and let expire naturally?

[northernladuk]

What about getting the agent to do it to avoid any IR35 implications?

She signed it and almost completely worked it. No agent is going to change it retrospectively now. This is a must at the beginning of the next one though. The contract isn't the only flag, it is also the working conditions so she could be ok if the changes QDOS suggest are also evident in the workplace. The client has demonstrated there is no MOO by giving this notice so she isn't sunk if the contract says otherwise but deffo needs checking over.

[SussexSeagull]

Punch the manager in the face and have them terminate your contract for unprofessional conduct?

What about getting the agent to do it to avoid any IR35 implications?

[northernladuk]

Thank you northernladuk for pointing out that I asked this question before – yes I had forgotten my post in the hectic, ensuing 11 months but you seem to have a lot of time on your hands (and obviously felt you needed to search for my previous posts), so it was good of you to remind me
My contract is with a consulting company who placed me at the client.
The contract with the consulting company has a specific start and end date
I have a termination clause which states 30 days notice by both parties
I have no MOO clause – I have a substitution clause (how harsh are you going to be on me for that?!)
In my ignorance I thought MOO related to ongoing contracts (i.e. the client is not obligated to provide you with continuing work nor obligated to keep renewing contracts), however I did not fully realise MOO relates to work within the term of a contract
The client has issued the MTA – the consulting company has not bothered to let me know
Yes, it is only 5 days, but the contract was in the process of being renewed until the project was suddenly put on hold and so I wasn’t expecting to be out of work, on such short notice. And now I am at Christmas time (sob!)

Did you have the contract reviewed by QDOS or similar? If not then I would say maybe you should as you need to decide where you stand with IR35 and how it affects your finances now

I am a woman but always happy to buy the beers.

I pointed that out so at least I got something right in this thread but certainly don't expect a line of people congratulating me for that.

A big hug from D000hg would be nice though

[Belle]

Thank you northernladuk for pointing out that I asked this question before – yes I had forgotten my post in the hectic, ensuing 11 months but you seem to have a lot of time on your hands (and obviously felt you needed to search for my previous posts), so it was good of you to remind me
My contract is with a consulting company who placed me at the client.
The contract with the consulting company has a specific start and end date
I have a termination clause which states 30 days notice by both parties
I have no MOO clause – I have a substitution clause (how harsh are you going to be on me for that?!)
In my ignorance I thought MOO related to ongoing contracts (i.e. the client is not obligated to provide you with continuing work nor obligated to keep renewing contracts), however I did not fully realise MOO relates to work within the term of a contract
The client has issued the MTA – the consulting company has not bothered to let me know
Yes, it is only 5 days, but the contract was in the process of being renewed until the project was suddenly put on hold and so I wasn’t expecting to be out of work, on such short notice. And now I am at Christmas time (sob!)

you should take it like a man. Smile sweetly, thank everyone you've worked with, buy a round of beers in the pub

I am a woman but always happy to buy the beers.

[TheFaQQer]

Might I pose a hypothetical (for me at least, I am sure it has happened to someone)?

If a month into a three month contract you are told to take a month off due to lack of work then come back, is there a legal mechanism for getting out of the contract if you haven't got a notice period?

Punch the manager in the face and have them terminate your contract for unprofessional conduct?

[poly1906]

Like the OP I have been informed of a mandatory time off period being imposed on contractors by client co.

As posters have stated, I see myself as a big boy, happy to have the time off and in fact quite pleased at the demonstration of a lack of MOO.

However... the agency has informed me of this verbally and for some reason seems reluctant to put it in writing. Apparantly the client co have asked them not to. I would like it in writing so there is a record of it having happened i.e. proof of lack of MOO if there was ever an IR35 enquiry (no reason to suspect there would be but I see it as a potential get out of jail free card). I checked my contract, which has the relevant clause ralating to there being no obligation of work, but that direct clause does not say how such instances should be communicated. There are other clauses that make general statements about changes to terms being put in writing. Arguably this is not a change of terms, just an instance of no work being available which is covered in the contract.

So just wondered how the OP and others were told about this (phone, face-to-face, email, carrier pigeon, etc.) and whether it was subsequently put in writing (or if you requested that). On the other hand would the "Mandatory" aspect indicate a form of control and actually be bad from an IR35 perspective - in which case I should just not turn up on the relevant days, not bill, drink special brew on a park bench in between playing violent computer games and come back in January as if nothing happened.

[SussexSeagull]

Might I pose a hypothetical (for me at least, I am sure it has happened to someone)?

If a month into a three month contract you are told to take a month off due to lack of work then come back, is there a legal mechanism for getting out of the contract if you haven't got a notice period?