Early termination of contract regardless notice period - is it legal?

[MisterLysenkiy]

Dear Colleagues,

To start with, today in the morning coming on client site I was given verbal notice of termination of contract, explaining that they are not actually happy with my code delivery timings (partly true) and some lack of communication within a team.

Client tech lead told me that they want to suspend my services from the moment and has been following me rest of the time till I left the office. I mentioned him I have 7 days notice period, however he did not react to it and has signed my timesheet up to today inclusively.

My current contract states notice peroid as the following:

"Agency may terminate the contract with 7 days' notice of termination. The service provider is required to work the full length of the contract." (which is 1 month )

So what should I do in this case? I have nothing against working out my notice period, but clients does not me to present on site (probably he's worrying as some stupid people could make some sort of silent revenge or so). How do I get being paid for the notice period mentioned in the contract?

What are my actions? The first thing coming into my head is asking the client to confirm contract termination by his initiative from today in writing (email).
How should I deal with the agency? Agency itself is working with this client for a longterm and probably might not want to break relationship with them.

Should I still come to client tomorrow? As I do not, I can be blamed for not comleting the agreement (as there's no written confirmation of that)

Any advice on that?
Thank you!

[eek]

Dear Colleagues,

To start with, today in the morning coming on client site I was given verbal notice of termination of contract, explaining that they are not actually happy with my code delivery timings (partly true) and some lack of communication within a team.

Client tech lead told me that they want to suspend my services from the moment and has been following me rest of the time till I left the office. I mentioned him I have 7 days notice period, however he did not react to it and has signed my timesheet up to today inclusively.

My current contract states notice peroid as the following:

"Agency may terminate the contract with 7 days' notice of termination. The service provider is required to work the full length of the contract." (which is 1 month )

So what should I do in this case? I have nothing against working out my notice period, but clients does not me to present on site (probably he's worrying as some stupid people could make some sort of silent revenge or so). How do I get being paid for the notice period mentioned in the contract?

What are my actions? The first thing coming into my head is asking the client to confirm contract termination by his initiative from today in writing (email).
How should I deal with the agency? Agency itself is working with this client for a longterm and probably might not want to break relationship with them.

Should I still come to client tomorrow? As I do not, I can be blamed for not comleting the agreement (as there's no written confirmation of that)

Any advice on that?
Thank you!

you have no mutual obligation and no work is forthcoming so you are flogging a dead horse. Take the money including today's bonus and find something else...

[MisterLysenkiy]

you have no mutual obligation and no work is forthcoming so you are flogging a dead horse. Take the money including today's bonus and find something else...

I think that's not quite fair, as if the same could happen from my side they could easily sue me for breach of the contract. Additionally, thinking like that simply removes the sense of having notice period, doesn't matter what they state - it is still one day? It's absolutely not fair and looks like play-in-one-gate-game.

Has anyone got the experience of getting the compensation of the agencies in such cases?

[eek]

Early termination of contract regardless notice period - is it legal?

I think that's not quite fair, as if the same could happen from my side they could easily sue me for breach of the contract. Additionally, thinking like that simply removes the sense of having notice period, doesn't matter what they state - it is still one day? It's absolutely not fair and looks like play-in-one-gate-game.

Has anyone got the experience of getting the compensation of the agencies in such cases?

If I was delivering a good product and the client was happy I would expect notice, delivering rubbish with an unhappy client I would take today's money as a bonus.

Although I've never been in that boat as I make sure I deliver

[kal]

If I was delivering a good product and the client was happy I would expect notice, delivering rubbish with an unhappy client I would take today's money as a bonus.

Although I've never been in that boat as I make sure I deliver

+1, By your own admission you've been canned due to your performance, the contract no doubt has a clause to handle that scenario, there is nothing to see here, be thankful of the days pay and move on.

[TheFaQQer]

"Agency may terminate the contract with 7 days' notice of termination. The service provider is required to work the full length of the contract." (which is 1 month )

Your contract is with the agency - they should be the one terminating the contract, not the client.

How do I get being paid for the notice period mentioned in the contract?

You invoice for everything that you are entitled to receive, based on the contract. You then chase for late payment if that is not forthcoming. You would be wise to ensure that you are correct in what you invoice before pursuing this course of action.

What are my actions? The first thing coming into my head is asking the client to confirm contract termination by his initiative from today in writing (email).
How should I deal with the agency? Agency itself is working with this client for a longterm and probably might not want to break relationship with them.

The client needs to tell the agency. The agency needs to tell you. Then, and only then, is the contract terminated correctly.

Should I still come to client tomorrow?

You can try that. Explain that the agency hasn't terminated the contract, so you are still under contract there. You never know, they might sign off another day on your timesheet.

I think that's not quite fair, as if the same could happen from my side they could easily sue me for breach of the contract. Additionally, thinking like that simply removes the sense of having notice period, doesn't matter what they state - it is still one day? It's absolutely not fair and looks like play-in-one-gate-game.

Very often, business isn't fair. Unfortunately, that's the way the world seems to work. I'm not familiar with the game, but essentially (unless you have the contract worded correctly), many people end up with a one-day notice period with no paid notice.

Has anyone got the experience of getting the compensation of the agencies in such cases?

You read tales of such things happening around these parts, but I don't personally know anyone who has done it.

[MisterLysenkiy]

If I was delivering a good product and the client was happy I would expect notice, delivering rubbish with an unhappy client I would take today's money as a bonus.
Although I've never been in that boat as I make sure I deliver

It was already rubbish 6-years-old project re-written by multiple developers and much of such called "spaghetti code" moreover I am definitely nothing to blame me for except for being not so terribly pushing on their 2 project managers who were absolutely lost from the reality.

Anyway, the question is not about that, but about responsibility of the agency for breach of their terms in contract. You may simply substitute my reason with something like "we've run out of budget and cannot pay anymore".

So I happens that agencies may state any notice periods in the contracts and later easily avoid that just giving one day notice regardless of what's stated in contract?

[TheFaQQer]

Anyway, the question is not about that, but about responsibility of the agency for breach of their terms in contract. You may simply substitute my reason with something like "we've run out of budget and cannot pay anymore".

If the agency has breached the contract, then you invoice for what you are owed, and if they don't pay you chase for late payment, following that up with a court order if necessary. As I said earlier, though, you would be wise to ensure that you are 100% correct about whether they have breached the contract or not before embarking on potentially time-wasting and expensive litigation.

[BolshieBastard]

Is this another sockie!? Aren't there enough post recently on this subject without someone else starting yet another thread?

[SueEllen]

So I happens that agencies may state any notice periods in the contracts and later easily avoid that just giving one day notice regardless of what's stated in contract?

Nope but it's up to you to enforce it taking legal action if necessary.

If your performance is unacceptable to the client then there will be a clause in the contract where they can give you immediate notice. In some contracts this clause also means the client can get away with not paying you for any work you have done, so you should always retain some proof that you delivered something.