Reply to: Is this perfectly legal?

Why the **** after all the advice given are you still communicating your end date with the client. It isn't surprising the agent confirmed your end date. It was the only choice he had and if you had dealt with him and only him right from the start you would have avoided all this agro.

Sorry didn't reply earlier.

The reason I was communicating with the client was because the agency said they will go by the date the client advises them of.

Anyways tomorrow it's my last day and my manager has not spoken one word with me after he issued me the 1 week notice last Friday via my agent.

Errr.. so much for being professional..

[TheFaQQer]

Lesson to learn - give your notice properly, in writing to the party with whom you have the contract.

20% of the posts so far say to give the notice to the agency rather than relying on wishy-washy "when can I leave" questions to someone you don't have a contractual relationship with. It would be worthwhile remembering that next time.

[northernladuk]

I got a bit annoyed at the response so I replied back telling him that I was disappointed with the uncertainty and I couldn't see any list of work planned since the date I had given my notice (i.e since 2 weeks) and I wanted to check if the work was within scope.

Why the **** after all the advice given are you still communicating your end date with the client. It isn't surprising the agent confirmed your end date. It was the only choice he had and if you had dealt with him and only him right from the start you would have avoided all this agro.

let us know what you decide to do and how it all pans out.......

Last Thursday the client responded back saying he cannot confirm the end date and I will have to stay back till the date mentioned in the contract and he has got work planned for me.

I got a bit annoyed at the response so I replied back telling him that I was disappointed with the uncertainty and I couldn't see any list of work planned since the date I had given my notice (i.e since 2 weeks) and I wanted to check if the work was within scope.

The client got angry and cc'd HR / recruitment trying to defend his actions and mentioned that I had signed another contract one week before my current one expires, which is a breach of their contract. He admitted that he was trying to make me interested in the work i.e. hold me back.

He also told me that if I had been upfront he would have planned something else for me. I was like huh?

I didn't bother replying to all that stuff and just replied back saying that if the client had told me on day one that it was NOT possible to release me early and I have to leave only at the end date then that would have been the end of discussion and I also mentioned that there was no point in discussing further and I would wait till the end date.

Surprisingly on Friday I got a call from my agent telling me that the client has decided to give me one weeks notice as per the contract and my last day is 21-03-2014. I just replied I am fine with it.

So much drama over nothing but I am happy that I am out at the end of this week.

I start my new contract the following Monday.

[SeekingIT]

Indeed!!!

let us know what you decide to do and how it all pans out.......

Just walk out of your current place, tell them to stick it, and then go start at your new client.

They are highly unlikely to come after you for it. It's just that they probably won't want you back there again ever in the future. That then frees up gigs for people who are professional, so everybody wins.

Tbh I doubt I will ever come back to this place of work.

If you say that I am being unprofessional for requesting to be released one week early than my actual end date then I can't do much about it.

It's not just for money that I am contracting and I have always finished all my contracts as per the terms of the agreement but then not all clients are the same.

[kal]

Just walk out of your current place, tell them to stick it, and then go start at your new client.

They are highly unlikely to come after you for it. It's just that they probably won't want you back there again ever in the future. That then frees up gigs for people who are professional, so everybody wins.

Quite!

[Ticktock]

Just walk out of your current place, tell them to stick it, and then go start at your new client.

They are highly unlikely to come after you for it. It's just that they probably won't want you back there again ever in the future. That then frees up gigs for people who are professional, so everybody wins.

[TheFaQQer]

I already gave a 4 week notice and asked the client for a end date and he has been dragging it on for 2 weeks now and kept me in the dark.

If you gave your notice, then you should be able to determine your last date on the contract - it's four weeks from whenever you gave notice. There is no discussion to be had. There is nothing for the client to tell you. Your last day is four weeks from when you gave notice, which is what the contract says.

They don't need to drag their feet, you just need to tell the agency that you are leaving on the date that is correct.

Not being straight about it right from the front has also put me in a difficult situation.

It's not a difficult situation, but if you cannot understand that you have a contractual relationship with the agency and not the client, then I dread to think what else is going to go wrong.

[psychocandy]

He is the client manager, not YOUR manager and you should be speaking to the agent only really, just advising the client manager as a courtesy. The contract is between you and the agent. You have no contractual obligation to the client. If the manager doesn't like it he will have to go speak to the agent, not you.

NLUKs right. To be honest, if you gave the correct notice to the agency then its not really your problem any more. Client can moan all they like if agency didnt tell them.

To be fair, it sounds like agency thought they could blag it and talk you round into not leaving early and never even spoke to client.

All this stress - for what?

You say in your own post that you are being unprofessional, and frankly it looks like you are. Stand up and be a reliable, professional consultant: work your contract to 4th April and tell your new client that you will start there on 7th April.

huh?

I already gave a 4 week notice and asked the client for a end date and he has been dragging it on for 2 weeks now and kept me in the dark.

If the client had said right from day one "nah, you have to do the final week also" I would have gone back to to the new agent and told him I can only start after the 4th.

Not being straight about it right from the front has also put me in a difficult situation.

[northernladuk]

Can I refuse work that was not agreed upon and not detailed in the job description quoting IR35?

No. IR35 is a tax issue, not a work excuse.

[ChimpMaster]

I just spoke to my agent now and I told him I had spoken to the account manager at the agency and told him my intentions and did follow up in an email.

The only mistake I did was I started the email with "As per our telephonic conversation..." ... Now the agency says I didn't explicitly mention that I am giving a one month notice.

He also said he will release me on that date agreed by the client and my client is dragging his heels telling me he has work planned for me. I still haven't got any details what work has been planned for me for the next 2-3 weeks.

Can I refuse work that was not agreed upon and not detailed in the job description quoting IR35?

All this stress - for what?

You say in your own post that you are being unprofessional, and frankly it looks like you are. Stand up and be a reliable, professional consultant: work your contract to 4th April and tell your new client that you will start there on 7th April.

He is the client manager, not YOUR manager and you should be speaking to the agent only really, just advising the client manager as a courtesy. The contract is between you and the agent. You have no contractual obligation to the client. If the manager doesn't like it he will have to go speak to the agent, not you.

I just spoke to my agent now and I told him I had spoken to the account manager at the agency and told him my intentions and did follow up in an email.

The only mistake I did was I started the email with "As per our telephonic conversation..." ... Now the agency says I didn't explicitly mention that I am giving a one month notice.

He also said he will release me on that date agreed by the client and my client is dragging his heels telling me he has work planned for me. I still haven't got any details what work has been planned for me for the next 2-3 weeks.

Can I refuse work that was not agreed upon and not detailed in the job description quoting IR35?

[northernladuk]

I asked my manager once again to confirm the end date and he has come back saying he cannot confirm the end date as he still has work to do.

I asked him what work is outstanding as I need to check if this was been agreed upon and if it is part of the job description and if I was expected to carry out those tasks.

I find it very childish and unprofessional.

I may have to speak to my new agent now.

He is the client manager, not YOUR manager and you should be speaking to the agent only really, just advising the client manager as a courtesy. The contract is between you and the agent. You have no contractual obligation to the client. If the manager doesn't like it he will have to go speak to the agent, not you.