Contract Terminated without Notice

[diaz101]

Hello and thanks for reading.I have just had a contract terminated without notice whilst on a clients site, the contract was through an agency and I was on a weeks rolling notice.
Now that the contract has been terminated without notice, am I entitled to a weeks pay?Or is it not that simple?
Any advice will be really appreciated as I have not been in this position before,
thanks again

[Clare@InTouch]

Why was it terminated without notice? What does your contract say? There's usually a clause that states you can be terminated without notice in certain circumstances (for example if you're guilty of gross negligence etc) or sometimes they can simply terminate without notice for any reason at all.

[Wanderer]

Now that the contract has been terminated without notice, am I entitled to a weeks pay?

Yes, for sure you are (presuming you didn't get terminated for gross misconduct). Just bill the agency for that week as normal. Don't worry if you don't have a timesheet, just send them an invoice and they should pay it. Come back and let us know if they don't and we can advise what to do but they should just pay up for the notice period.

[Olly]

Yes, for sure you are

Quite a bold statement there? Not saying it's wrong but virtually every contract I've had states they'll only pay for work you've done and the client is under no obligation to provide work. I guess in theory this means if the client refuses to provide work during your "weeks notice" you can't bill.

It seems fishy they wouldn't want you to work out at least part of the week though, what are you doing that can be just dropped like a stone and not documented or handed over?

As they said though, bill and come and back if they don't pay.

[SueEllen]

Quite a bold statement there? Not saying it's wrong but virtually every contract I've had states they'll only pay for work you've done and the client is under no obligation to provide work. I guess in theory this means if the client refuses to provide work during your "weeks notice" you can't bill.

Not necessarily.

I've billed for a notice period when a contract was cut short as the company who all the contractors involved on the project were doing the work for, rescheduled the installation phrase of the work for months later.

It seems fishy they wouldn't want you to work out at least part of the week though, what are you doing that can be just dropped like a stone and not documented or handed over?

As they said though, bill and come and back if they don't pay.

However I do agree that it sounds like diaz101 hasn't provided the entire story even though there is possibly a simple explanation why they binned someone on such a contract.

[PSK]

When they terminated you, they probably should have formally stated on what basis, whether the 'no fault' or whether due to some breach or misconduct.
Depending on what your contract said, if they've said nothing, it might be best to presume they've invoked the no fault termination with a week's notice. I'd expect them to pay up as, by definition, you can't be provided with work to earn the week's money in these circumstances (so if there is something in your contract about being paid when provided with work, it wouldn't be expected to apply in these circumstances). Similarly, you can't be expected to provide timesheets in these circumstances. You could either bill the agency or client (depending on whether there's a third party or you are contracting directly) as normal or, if there's a timesheet, ask your counterpart if they want you to fill in a notional week on the timesheet or whether they'll generate the payment without having to do this. If it was a genuine surprise and you want to know, you could ask them to confirm if it was no fault breach and what the reason was. If you've left on good terms, you could give them your standard feedback or reference form if you have one.

Sorry to hear about your problem.

[Wanderer]

Quite a bold statement there? Not saying it's wrong but virtually every contract I've had states they'll only pay for work you've done and the client is under no obligation to provide work. I guess in theory this means if the client refuses to provide work during your "weeks notice" you can't bill.

Hmm, true but what would the "notice period" be for if they could do this though? I mean, effectively there would be no notice so why not be upfront about it and say it. Conversely if there is no mutuality of obligation in the contract, could we take that to mean that we don't have to work out a notice period because we are not obliged to provide our services to the client?

I would be inclined to take notice periods at face value unless there was some extenuating circumstance (eg, you got booted out for doing something really dumb and you're lucky they don't sue you).

However I do agree that it sounds like diaz101 hasn't provided the entire story even though there is possibly a simple explanation why they binned someone on such a contract.

Sometimes it happens though. Perhaps they didn't have any further work and saw little point babysitting a contractor who would have nothing to do.