Reply to: Contract Error by Agency (advice please)

[Mordac]

Most of my overtime is caused by travelling to and from site.

You're new at this game aren't you. You aren't entitled to anything for travelling to your home site (as named in your contract). It's a pain in the arse sometimes, especially when your home site is 70 miles away, as mine currently is. It's part of contracting, so please don't embarrass yourself by taking this any further.

[tim123]

Im not saying that. I understand that the agency get x amount per day per person depending on job. my point is...please read original post that the agency made an error with my contract. I even highlighted this to them at tart of contract. They decided to ignore this issue so I agrreed to xxx daily rate and pro rata overtime. Most of my overtime is caused by travelling to and from site.

I did read your post.

You said that you objected *in principle* to the idea of not being paid for your overtime. It was this point that I was replying to.

You didn't say that you thought that as the agency had made a mistake with the contract that they should stick by it. (You are right, legally they should, but as this will cause them to run your contract at a loss they will have little choice but to give you notice if you won't accept a change, is this a 'win' for you?)

tim

[Lucifer Box]

As always, Mal, you are correct on this one.

[malvolio]

Give up, chaps, there is no right answer to this one. And people wonder why I left home...

Welshboyo - are you sure you're in the right job?

Hwyl mawr, bach.

[Lucifer Box]

Most of my overtime is caused by travelling to and from site.

You are joking, aren't you?

Assuming you mean from your home office to the client's site, I don't think you will get any sympathy from either client or agent for treating that as overtime. If your travelling time is excessive, you should really have factored that into your rate negotiations.

[MarillionFan]

"Most of my overtime is caused by travelling to and from site."

Please tell me, you are not expecting to get paid for traveling to site!!!!!

[welshboyyo]

Im not saying that. I understand that the agency get x amount per day per person depending on job. my point is...please read original post that the agency made an error with my contract. I even highlighted this to them at tart of contract. They decided to ignore this issue so I agrreed to xxx daily rate and pro rata overtime. Most of my overtime is caused by travelling to and from site.

[tim123]

. I have no issues with my employer only with the agengy.


Advice Please.

You are probably wrong here. I suspect that you only have an issue with the employer (though I think you mean client).

The agency have no magic pot of money with which to pay you, all they have is what they bill the client for. If the agency are saying that there is no overtime payment that is because they are passing on a rule that the client has made.

Agents may usually be sharks but they don't generally receive money from a client for 'overtime' and refuse to pay it on to you. If they are refusing to pay it, this is because no-one is paying it to them.

You need to establish whether the client pays overtime or not and then decide who is to blame here.

[wendigo100]

37 hour weeks

A working week is min 37.5 hrs ie 7.5 hrs per day. Not quite sure how you got 37.0 (might be another error).

Last year I was on a day-rate where the weekly hours were 37, working at a very large energy company.

In theory it was 7.4 hours per day, but the client timesheets couldn't handle that so everyone put Friday down as a seven-hour day.

[malvolio]

Slightly offf topic to the original question, but if you're the PM and on a day rate, overtime should not be an option, you should figure it into your day rate. A bit of attitude readjustment needed here, perhaps?

Put it this way, if a PM asked me for o/t for a ten hour day, they would get a very short answer (and more likley questions about why is their planning so adrift they need a ten hour day to catch up!). Weekends or overnight, I would consider it, but I don't expect PMs to work hours, I expect PMs to deliver things.

/hobby-horse off

[welshboyyo]

Lol Thanks

Im the PM and im not trying to take the piss. They gave me a contract specifying a daily rate and 37hr weeks strange but true. This has nothing to do with the company i contract to. Im 1 of their PMs they pay a fixed rate to Omni and i get a percentage of that. Si I have no gripe with the company I carry out the work for just the butt Fuxks that cant put a simple contract together.

[MarillionFan]

What exactly is your role?

If it's support - then yes you should get overtime. If it's development, then difficult to say why the PM has let you go over. If you're the PM, then you're taking the piss as you spend most of the time at the pub. If you're the IT Director then, hey you're on shares, why would you care?

[TinTin]

Not quite

A working week is min 37.5 hrs ie 7.5 hrs per day. Not quite sure how you got 37.0 (might be another error). You are pushing your luck if you expect overtime after only 7.5 hrs if you are on a daily rate, but it is up to you and the client who pays the bill. Bear in mind that clock-watching is a permie and not a contractor's strongpoint.

[welshboyyo]

Thanks so far. Firstly not 1st Contract CAB was a quick check that I had fact right. Also i think it will start after 7.5 hrs as they have got week = 37hrs.
Agency is O*ni

[TinTin]

Contract terms

If the contract has been signed by both parties, then it is valid. You may find that overtime doesn't kick off necessarily after 7.5 or 8 hrs since a daily rate is normally for anything between 8-10 hrs (again, this may vary). I sense this maybe your 1st contract since you've gone running to Citizens' Advice Bureau (you are running a business in case you don't know, so get some paid professional advice from a solicitor or an accountant rather than a free one from a beardy or lesbo part-time counsellor)