horrendous Contract clause in my contract

[dannyp123]

Hi, I am working as contractor through an indian agency. unfortunately, at the time of signing contract I didnt read the contract terms & conditions as I never expected such horrendous clause in UK by any agencies or employer. As the clause at the end of contract if I work for same employer direct or indirect I will have to pay back 13 weeks worth of wages to the agency (lets call it agency A).
My problem is that my very same employer want to move our team including me to other agency lets say agency B because employer is not happy with agency A. But in my case I am bound with the above contract clause with agency A. The 13 weeks wages are coming close to 20k which is way too much...and I am not making this move it is the employer who is wanting to make the move to other agency

I am worried what to do and how avoid this slavery contract clause without paying anything

Thanks in advance
Danny

[cojak]

Ignoring the term 'employer', tell THE CLIENT of the restriction clause. If they like you they will bully agency A into rescinding the clause.

If they're not bothered about you, you may have to start looking for a new contract.

And read the contract next time. Even better spend a bit of money and get a specialist to read it and negotiate with the agency on your behalf.

[mudskipper]

Hi, I am working as contractor through an indian agency. unfortunately, at the time of signing contract I didnt read the contract terms & conditions as I never expected such horrendous clause in UK by any agencies or employer. As the clause at the end of contract if I work for same employer direct or indirect I will have to pay back 13 weeks worth of wages to the agency (lets call it agency A).
My problem is that my very same employer want to move our team including me to other agency lets say agency B because employer is not happy with agency A. But in my case I am bound with the above contract clause with agency A. The 13 weeks wages are coming close to 20k which is way too much...and I am not making this move it is the employer who is wanting to make the move to other agency

I am worried what to do and how avoid this slavery contract clause without paying anything

Thanks in advance
Danny

Are the rest of the team through the same agency? If so, they're likely to have the same clause. Are you sure it's 13 weeks' "wages", not 13 weeks' commission? As cojak says, speak to the client - either they will have the will to sort it out, or they won't. Did you opt out of the agency conduct regulations? If you did not, this clause may well be unenforceable, but it won't stop the agency giving you a hard time if they are minded to do so.

See Contractor Doctor: Is my agency’s restrictive covenant valid after losing PSL status? for useful information.

[northernladuk]

Hi, I am pretending to be a contractor through an indian agency. unfortunately, at the time of signing contract I didnt read the contract terms & conditions as I never expected such horrendous clause in UK by any agencies or employer. As the clause at the end of contract if I work for same employer direct or indirect I will have to pay back 13 weeks worth of wages to the agency (lets call it agency A).

FTFY... You've made one mistake, now time to step up and understand things. As has been pointed out I would say this is wages not contract income. How much does that come to?

My problem is that my very same employer want to move our team including me to other agency lets say agency B because employer is not happy with agency A. But in my case I am bound with the above contract clause with agency A. The 13 weeks wages are coming close to 20k which is way too much...and I am not making this move it is the employer who is wanting to make the move to other agency

Refer back to the FTFY above....

First off find out exactly what you are bound to so you fully understand the risk.

I'd can't help thinking these costs have been pushed back to the contractor so they don't exist in the upper contract between client and agency. In most cases if the client wants the contractor to go permie they will have to 'buy' the contractor off the agency. Something makes me think that's just been pushed down the chain. I'd be very surprised if it existed in both but with an Indian agency nothing should surprise me.

You could go to the client and he 'may' fight on your behalf as he has some interest in this as well but I can't see what the client has to bully with. If he is moving all contractors from agent A there will be no incentive for the agent to cave. If there was the threat of pulling all further business from that agency they they might fold for the longer term gain. If this is an exercise to cut out Agency A then they've nothing. Agency A are losing all their income and the client so why would they back down? They've nothing to lose.

Best you can do is make the client aware and hope they can do something about it otherwise you are bang to rights. Where a party can demonstrate loss then handcuffs are likely to go their favour. It maybe quashed if it is not fair and reasonable but it's going to be hard to argue 15k (guessing it's wages here) is not fair and reasonable.

If it all works out well and you are put on to Agent B what are the first things you are going to do?

[DotasScandal]

at the time of signing contract I didnt read the contract terms & conditions..

....

as I never expected such horrendous clause in UK by any agencies or employer.

Then you got the wrong idea about the UK.
Agencies are here to shaft you. The Government is here to shaft you.
Live and learn. And be grateful for the good advice given by the posters above.