Contract Terminated immediately no notice given

[vj121982]

Hi All,

Need some advise, my contract was terminated in a very odd manner, On 13th Nov 2012 my manager client side said not to come from next day - as per my manager understanding my agency contract got over with them end of September only, he also said my agency is 'dodgy' and they don't want me to be in there campus from next day. What could I have done and I didn't went next day.

My contract with the agency was till 03rd Dec 2012 and I offcially worked there till 13th Nov. I called my agency and they said there is a mistake and they are working to get that sorted and soon my manager would call me back to work and on other side my manager said they will never call as my agency has acted smart and all. Moreover they were pissed off my agency than me.

All the time I kept chasing calling, mailing my agency and they always like they will call you and that never happened and 03rd Dec arrived. As I called the agency they asked me on 05th Dec 2012 to send the timesheet and invoice upto 03rd Dec and they will get my client pay me for that, but it has been 2 weeks I have not received any payment for month of November and now I am just getting a reply from my agency that they are chasing the client to get the timesheet and invoice signed by them. I called client manager and he said he is not aware of anything such as invoice and timesheet which has come for his signature and he said he will not sign anything over 13th Nov, which I believe is fair enough on his part as I have not worked there after 13th Nov.

Can you please advise how best I can take this up with my agency, and is there a way I can make them pay me till my end contract date. Appreciate your time in reading the big story :-)

Thanks
VJ

[Wanderer]

Can you please advise how best I can take this up with my agency, and is there a way I can make them pay me till my end contract date.

Payment for notice periods is a bit of a contentious one on this forum. Some people say you should only be paid for days worked, others think they agency should pay you off for your notice period. I'd be inclined to advise you to invoice for the whole notice period.

Do a search on the forum for "dunning" or have a read of this post which explains what to do.

Remember that it is the AGENCY you have a contract with, not the client so everything should be referred to them.

Don't get involved in a bit tulip fight about it, take it through the steps. If you keep arguing the point with them then they will just argue it around in circles forever. Most likely they will just back down and pay up when it comes to court action being filed.

[BlasterBates]

Confirm the above, you should be entitled compensation for your notice period. Just bill the whole period, and wait for their response. Once you have that, i.e. the reason why they wouldn´t pay the full amount you can check against the contract, which may indeed have a clause that enables them not to pay if there is no work. Take it from there. If they don´t respond in writing just take it through the full legal proceedings of collecting the full amount.

[malvolio]

Fascinating. You guys sure you're in the right job?

Perhaps someone ought first to suggest the OP reads his contract (again...) and looks for a clause saying the contract is void immediately if the client terminates the agency contract. That may save a little time.

HTH.

[SarahL2012]

Have you been paid to 13 Nov?

Main priority is getting paid for the work you've actually done. If you've been paid to 13 November then I think you need to move on and focus on getting your next contract. There are some clients / agencies who will pay notice periods but on the whole there are enough clauses in the contract for them to avoid that.

Personally I don't think notice periods are worth the paper they're written on. I was out for Xmas drinks with the end client team last night and the client mentioned he could cancel or extend my contract with 4 weeks notice. Made me chuckle because I took out the notice period in the agreement between MyCo and the Agency, so I could leave tomorrow if I wanted to. Definitely not a back to back agreement there!

[MyUserName]

Best thing to do is to send this in a PM to NorthernLadUK.

He is the main guy for helping beginners with queries like this, he will be happy to walk you though the contract ins and outs.

[psychocandy]

Work done = kick up a fuss to get paid for it no question.

Notice period where nothing done = grey area where, if you get paid, well done, if you don't then you can probably forget it.

[northernladuk]

Put the invoice in if you want, it doesn't take any time up but don't think for a minute you will get paid.

You guys that have been asked not to attend over xmas period... What do you expect to do? Bill it anyway when the client has asked you not to work? Would you buggery so why is this any different? You can have 10 year notice period. If the client asks you not to work you don't get paid, just like we aren't over xmas.

I would hate to get investigated for IR35 with a gardening leave period in my history.......

[psychocandy]

Agree with NLUK here.

Although it can be a bit of a tightarse short-sighted thing for client to do I cant see how you can possibly expect to get paid if client says dont work.

[vj121982]

Thanks all for the advice, I have contacted the agency again and they said payment will come next week just wondering is this another week of excuse will wait and see, else as advised by most of you will chase up to get paid for the work atleast 13th Nov which are 9 days basically.

Regards,
VJ