Advice Required: Non-payment of Contractor's Wage

[Contractor Query]

Morning all,

I wonder if I could get some thoughts on an issue I'm currently facing? I work for a recruitment consultancy and have a CAD Design Engineer who has been working on contract with a client, via a Limited Company. (Opted in)

The Contractor recently finished, and submitted his last three weeks timesheets for payment, but the client are only prepared to pay around two thirds of the hours he is claiming for.

There are a couple of days where he was asked to work from home, and the client feels that he claimed for hours but did no work, and there are other instances where he has detailed parts of projects he was working on for them, but the client says they can find no evidence that he did the work, including the suggestion that the files he said he was working on clearly show that they were not accessed at the time that the guy says he was working on them.

I've hit a bit of a brick wall I suppose....the client says he didn't do the work, the contractor says he did but is struggling to provide evidence!!

Has anyone experienced or heard of similar situations, and be able to make any suggestions?

Thanks in advance....some constructive advice would be greatly appeciated!

[Beefy198]

Sounds to me like they genuinely don't agree and are attempting to make a reasonable offer for what they believe the work was worth (i.e. they're just not going "we're not paying")

Maybe someone here will know different, but it sounds to me like he'll have to take legal action if he really wants the full amount.

[Paddy]

What do you mean by wage?
If you are working via your own ltd co then don't mess about. Send a letter giving them 14 days to pay up. If they don't pay up take them (both the agent and the client) to the Small Claims Court. (you can do that online)

I have never known a contractor to loose a case. All the Court wants to know is that if you have done your house and your work, the client/agent must pay up.

[VectraMan]

I have never known a contractor to loose a case.

Why can't people spell "lose"? It's a very simple word.

If he's opted in, then surely you have to pay him. Then it's up to you to either get the full amount out of the client, or get the money back from him for not doing the work, or take the loss. Isn't this the part of the reason to opt in?

[TykeMerc]

I have one question, did the client sign the contractors final time sheets? If so they can't complain as they've signed for delivery of his work and should pay up.

[Contractor Query]

I am arranging to pay him the full amount, as I understand this is my obligation....what I don't know is whether the burden is on my client to prove that the guy didn't do the work, or the contractor to prove he did?

I'm stuck in the middle, trying to mediate, and am hitting my head against a brick wall!

[Beefy198]

If he's opted in, then surely you have to pay him. Then it's up to you to either get the full amount out of the client, or get the money back from him for not doing the work, or take the loss. Isn't this the part of the reason to opt in?

They have to pay for work done if the client doesn't pay, but since the actual work that's been done is in contention I suppose this is a different situation, otherwise you'd have people up and down the country claiming to have worked more hours than they really have....

[shoes]

If the timesheets are signed by the client you have to pay the contractor for the hours indicated on the timesheets, because they are opted in. If you don't the contractor can probably get you to quite easily by taking legal action.

Getting money out of the end client is your problem, not the contractors. Again if the timesheets are signed I would expect you have a legal avenue to go down should the client refuse to pay.

This is pretty fundamental stuff, won't this type of concern be something someone in your position should ask their boss about?

[Paddy]

Why can't people spell "lose"? It's a very simple word.

If he's opted in, then surely you have to pay him. Then it's up to you to either get the full amount out of the client, or get the money back from him for not doing the work, or take the loss. Isn't this the part of the reason to opt in?

(Grammar) Comma usage in nonessential elements. It’s a very simple sentence.

[thunderlizard]

You have 1 contract with your client and 1 contract with your subcontractor. You should view them as completely separate things, and not make the assumption that every single hour billable to the client is payable to the contractor and vice versa, unless the contracts actually say that. If your contracts (which, knowing agents, you probably insisted on writing in the first place) say that you have to pay the contractor but can't bill the client, then so be it.

When you are looking for new business, you probably tell both the client and the contractor that putting your company in the deal makes it less risky for both of them than if they'd directly entered into business with each other. Little disagreements like this are the whole reason you're in the deal in the first place, and this is exactly what your 15% is supposed to cover.