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Contract cancelled - Agency refusing to pay notice period

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    Contract cancelled - Agency refusing to pay notice period

    Hi all,

    Very new to this forum, and hoping someone can offer some sound advice. I am looking at whether I have a case to take my agency to the Small Claims Court as they are refusing to pay my notice period.

    I started a new contract last week for an IT Consultancy. Day 3 into the new job, I had to attend a Client site for an intro meeting as part of a handover process. Nothing extraordinary happened during the meeting but shortly after I had left the Client site, I received a call from my agency to say the end Client had called my company (the Consultancy) and suggested that I'd fallen asleep during the meeting, was not happy and wanted me off their project. This in turn meant the Consultancy had no option but to cancel my contract. I have been contracting for 10 years and what happened last week has stunned me, and certainly never happened before.

    I was categorically not asleep during the meeting. There were 8 other people in the meeting, 3 others from my company and not one mentioned or even suggested such a thing. I spent some time after the meeting with my line manager, who had sat opposite me; a very straight talking, no nonsense character who would have certainly informed me had I even appeared to have fallen asleep. I also walked 20mins back to my office with other colleagues, none of whom mentioned or hinted of their concern of this matter, as you would reasonably expect had such an event occurred.

    The agency are saying, they have sufficient grounds to invoke a clause to terminate my contract with immediate effect. The clause of the contract enables them to terminate with immediate effect should they have reasonable grounds to be dissatisfied with my services.

    So my question is, does a suggestion or claim that I was asleep by one person from an end Client, even though I wasn't, constitute reasonable grounds to invoke a clause that MY Client (the Consultancy) were dissatisfied with my services? Even though the original claim was not by them.

    Is it to be noted that I was not woken by anyone (because I was not asleep at any point), I had not slumped into my chair, was not found under the table snoring. I have admitted I was tired during the meeting, and unfortunately my tiredness may have been noticed. However, yawning is mostly an involuntary process, and maybe I should have excused myself from the room however I did not want to miss any of the meeting. I can't believe that a natural human reaction constitutes a lack of ability or professionalism of services.

    Also to note, the Consultancy's relationship with the Client had not been great before I started, of which I was warned about beforehand.

    Apologies for the essay, but the context around events was important.

    Thanks in advance.
    (I'll be amazed if this has happened before).

    #2
    Originally posted by SkyBlue87 View Post
    Hi all,

    Very new to this forum, and hoping someone can offer some sound advice. I am looking at whether I have a case to take my agency to the Small Claims Court as they are refusing to pay my notice period.

    I started a new contract last week for an IT Consultancy. Day 3 into the new job, I had to attend a Client site for an intro meeting as part of a handover process. Nothing extraordinary happened during the meeting but shortly after I had left the Client site, I received a call from my agency to say the end Client had called my company (the Consultancy) and suggested that I'd fallen asleep during the meeting, was not happy and wanted me off their project. This in turn meant the Consultancy had no option but to cancel my contract. I have been contracting for 10 years and what happened last week has stunned me, and certainly never happened before.

    I was categorically not asleep during the meeting. There were 8 other people in the meeting, 3 others from my company and not one mentioned or even suggested such a thing. I spent some time after the meeting with my line manager, who had sat opposite me; a very straight talking, no nonsense character who would have certainly informed me had I even appeared to have fallen asleep. I also walked 20mins back to my office with other colleagues, none of whom mentioned or hinted of their concern of this matter, as you would reasonably expect had such an event occurred.

    The agency are saying, they have sufficient grounds to invoke a clause to terminate my contract with immediate effect. The clause of the contract enables them to terminate with immediate effect should they have reasonable grounds to be dissatisfied with my services.

    So my question is, does a suggestion or claim that I was asleep by one person from an end Client, even though I wasn't, constitute reasonable grounds to invoke a clause that MY Client (the Consultancy) were dissatisfied with my services? Even though the original claim was not by them.

    Is it to be noted that I was not woken by anyone (because I was not asleep at any point), I had not slumped into my chair, was not found under the table snoring. I have admitted I was tired during the meeting, and unfortunately my tiredness may have been noticed. However, yawning is mostly an involuntary process, and maybe I should have excused myself from the room however I did not want to miss any of the meeting. I can't believe that a natural human reaction constitutes a lack of ability or professionalism of services.

    Also to note, the Consultancy's relationship with the Client had not been great before I started, of which I was warned about beforehand.

    Apologies for the essay, but the context around events was important.

    Thanks in advance.
    (I'll be amazed if this has happened before).
    Tired and yawning on Day 3? Oh dear. Options are:

    1. Drop it and move on.
    2. Invoice for notice period, start dunning then drop it and move on.
    3. Invoice for notice period, start dunning then take to small claims if within the limit.
    4. Talk to agency recording the call to get record of allegations Put in an SAR to the client and to the agency. Get legal advice for slander or libel.

    I would go for 1 or 2.

    Comment


      #3
      Originally posted by SkyBlue87 View Post
      Apologies for the essay, but the context around events was important.
      It really isn't. Your face didn't fit so you are done. Context is irrelevant. They might have made it up but it matters not. You cannot prove it and even if you could it still wouldn't matter. All they would do is give you notice and then not give you any work to do. No work, no timesheet, no pay. You are in exactly the same position.

      So you don't have a leg to stand on. Chalk it up to experience and move on.
      Thanks in advance.
      (I'll be amazed if this has happened before).
      We've not had the sleeping one but there are plenty of threads on here with a similar situation. Something has happened, contractor walked, can contractor go to small claims. Answer is always no.
      Last edited by northernladuk; 19 June 2019, 19:08.
      'CUK forum personality of 2011 - Winner - Yes really!!!!

      Comment


        #4
        Hang on.

        So you're working for an IT consultancy as a contractor. How did the end client know which agency you're contracted via? How did they know you are not an employee of the consultancy?

        I guess the arrangement could be that the client just uses the consultancy due to some contractual requirement but engages directly with the agency to select the workers. This is what Barclays do with HCL and the two or three agencies they use.

        Anyhoo. If the client doesn't like you, they don't have to keep you. Any excuse can be made to cancel the contract. It's upsetting when it's something fake and/or personal but there isn't a lot you can do about it.

        Comment


          #5
          end client probably said your seemed a bit dopey, and Chinese whispers later, you being dopey turned into sleeping




          Sent from my iPhone using Contractor UK Forum

          Comment


            #6
            Wasn't the one for you. Charge for your time and get to bed earlier.

            Comment


              #7
              Originally posted by ladymuck View Post
              So you're working for an IT consultancy as a contractor. How did the end client know which agency you're contracted via? How did they know you are not an employee of the consultancy?
              Not sure what that has to do with anything.

              End client to consultancy: Get Sleepy off this project
              Consultancy to Agent: we are cancelling Sleepys contract

              The end

              Comment


                #8
                Originally posted by SkyBlue87 View Post
                The agency are saying, they have sufficient grounds to invoke a clause to terminate my contract with immediate effect. The clause of the contract enables them to terminate with immediate effect should they have reasonable grounds to be dissatisfied with my services.

                <snip>
                So my question is, does a suggestion or claim that I was asleep by one person from an end Client, even though I wasn't, constitute reasonable grounds to invoke a clause that MY Client (the Consultancy) were dissatisfied with my services? Even though the original claim was not by them.

                <snip>
                I have admitted I was tired during the meeting, and unfortunately my tiredness may have been noticed.

                1) In reality, they don't even need a reason. Most of our contracts are effectively zero notice, no work, no pay.

                2) You have annoyed their client, and potentially jeopardized their contract/relationship with the end client.

                3) Already strained relationship between consultancy and end client, new face arrives, sitting yawning away in his first meeting. It may seem harsh, or a stretch, but stranger things have happened.

                As for them lying about you sleeping, someone has mentioned chinese whispers, and I bet that's exactly what it was.
                "New guy was sitting there almost sleeping", becomes "apparently new guy was half asleep" becomes "you were sleeping in a meeting", so I can see how that can happen.

                Harsh I agree, but your face didn't fit, the consultancy/end client relationship was already strained, in reality they don't even really need to give ANY reason to terminate your contract AND notice periods are not paid with the type of contracts most of us on here work through.

                It is not worth the time to pursue IMHO.

                Comment


                  #9
                  I've never been in a client meeting where coffee wasn't on offer.

                  I've never neglected to have as many cups as I needed to stay alert if the meeting was likely to be narcoleptic.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Originally posted by WordIsBond View Post
                    I've never neglected to have as many cups as I needed to stay alert if the meeting was likely to be narcoleptic.
                    Isn't being narcoleptic relating just to people, not events?

                    '...likely to be narcolepsy inducing.' ?

                    Comment

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