Reply to: Dodgy clients...

[voron]

At the moment im concentrating on answering the phone - anyone know C# and Rational XDE and want a contract with the .. gasp.. Inland Revenue in Telford? Immediate start.

I get a call every week regarding this (except for project management). It will be working for Cap Gemini rather than the IR on the Aspire programme.

[BlasterBates]

If you have a weeks notice and it is in writing, don't see a problem, just send an invoice, as usual pointing out the notice period, then if they don't pay in the normal timeframe, send a reminder, then a final demand etc. I suspect they'll pay up. The agency will do the same to the client.

[mcquiggd]

If thats how the client operates then I wouldnt want to work for them.
Mailman

Indeed - a few days after I signed the extension the PM called me in and told me he had budget troubles and hed sack me if I didnt agree to a rate reduction and time off - he was even low enough to mention cancer and that perhaps I wanted a rest.

[BoredBloke]

"How do people get in this situation, especially as you were sat so close to the boss."

It is actually very easy. So you are getting close to the end of your contract. The client states that they want to keep you and you are happy to stay. Then at the last minute, for whatever reason, budgets get cut and the client cannot afford your services and wants to get out of the contract. Simply make up some excuse so that the contract gets terminated and move on. The problem from the contractors perspective is that they have missed the time period where they would normally start looking for the next role, resulting in a bit of down time

Personally I start looking even if a renewal is in the offing. Only stop looking when both parties have signed the contract and you have a copy of the document. Because it is a renewal it is hard for the other side to prove that the work was below par as a means of terminating the contract.

Also, at the last place I was at, it wasn't the managers decision. It was taken by somebody higher up at the last minute.

[mcquiggd]

I have two signed copies of the extension for 6 months sitting in my kitchen as we speak... the only verbal discussion was threats of sacking if I didnt take a pay cut, asking me to take 2 months holiday, and then that the next day I would be finishing (NOT terminated).

The contract does not mention a probationary period, simply one weeks notice (which was not given until the day before the original contract ended).

[Mailman]

He has already said he has signed an extension.

What are the termination clauses in your contract MacDonald? I would have thought it would have contained a standard 4 week notice period.

You know what though...I wouldnt want to work for anyone who terminates contracts like they did with you. My personal experience has been being told by someone I didnt recognise as my managers manager that they didnt get approval to extend. I cant believe the client would not have approached you personally to let you know of this.

If thats how the client operates then I wouldnt want to work for them.

Mailman

[MarillionFan]

Tut

How do people get in this situation, especially as you were sat so close to the boss.(by the way you cant get sacked - your a contractor).

Tut.

Move on.

[BlasterBates]

If this was just a verbal agreement for an extension, I would forget it. Yes technically a verbal agreement is a contract, but your chances of getting anything are virtually zero. In any case they could argue that the intial 4 weeks would have a days notice.

If you did actually work during that time that should however be paid, that would be no problem, as that's easy to prove.

[mcquiggd]

At the moment im concentrating on answering the phone - anyone know C# and Rational XDE and want a contract with the .. gasp.. Inland Revenue in Telford? Immediate start.


I turned it down on principal.

[ratewhore]

Chuck emotion out the window and concentrate on what your signed contract says...

...and if you don't want to name the client, name the agency as they're obviously a bunch of tossers too!

[mcquiggd]

Dont want to name the client (but they are French) but I noticed they pulled the adverts from the job boards within two days. Im friends with the guys there so ill make some enquiries...

Surely, if the agency knew i was being given a weeks notice they should have left a voicemail or emailed me to say as such. The fact they emailed me to say they had verbal agreement from HR for a 3 month contract on the same money on the wednesday then rang me on the thursday afternoon to tell me there would be no extension indicates they failed to serve notice.

It was £350 a day which isnt bad for this area.

They cant argue I was terminated for lack of ability etc as they offered me in writing 6 months on the same terms, then realised they were financially knackered and offered 3 months at 320 rising back to 350 after christmas (yeah right), then tell me Im not being terminated but theres is no extension on the thursday, then an anonymous drone emails me at work on the friday afternoon to say i AM being terminated... bunch of cowboys....

[ratewhore]

The client doesn't figure in this at all. You're contract is with the agency and if they have signed the renewal with a notice period they are contractually obliged. Obtaining legal advice is the way to go initially as there may be detail in the contract regarding this (and this is why you need to go through the contract with a fine toothcomb to begin with, striking out what you don't want and agreeing the changes with the agency).

Who are the agents and the client btw?

[BlasterBates]

It doesn't matter, contractors are not employees so whatever is in the contract is valid.Therefore you need to read this. It's just often, renewal contracts are identical to new contracts.

[BoredBloke]

Would a renewal have a valid probationary period? I could understand the original first contract having one, as the candidate could turn out to be bolloxs, but a renewal is a known quantity. The fact that they have offered the same person the same terms and conditions would, I would have thought, nullified any probationary period.

Who was the client? The last place I worked at pulled similar cunning stunts to this. They promised a renewal to one guy right up until his last day and then pulled the plug. Had he known they did not want his services, he could have spent time looking for something else.

[BlasterBates]

You'll have to see a lawyer to check exactly what the contract says.

If there is a notice period then the agency is responsible, the client doesn't come into this at all.

It probably is worth trying to settle, but I'm sure a lawyer would handle this.

The only problem you may have is that the renewal contract may have a probationary period, in which case forget it.