I am an IT contractor and completed a contract Sep 2018-March 2019 through an agency for a banking client. My ltd company contract with the agency had a completion payment clause, i.e. if I complete the 7 month contract then (as per client discretion) I will get a nice little bonus at the end, paid by the client. At the end of contract, all other contractors (hired directly or via other agencies) received the confirmation from the client that they will be getting the bonus equal to 15% of invoicing. When I enquired about my payment, the client was surprised to know that the agency had included the clause in my contract, even though they had instructed the agency that new contracts, around the time I started work, will not be offered completion payment. The client confirmed that the agency has made a mistake.
I contacted the agency and they admitted that the clause was added by mistake in my contract. However, they are claiming due to the language in the contract, they don't have to remedy anything.
‘The amount of the Completion Payment will be determined by the Client in its sole discretion based on such factors as the Client shall determine in its absolute discretion,
including the quality of the Services and Deliverables provided.’
‘Nothing in this Agreement shall give any Contractor and/or their Consultant(s) any right to the Completion Payment’
However, the question of client discretion does not even arise, when they did not even know about the clause. The client is really happy with my work and I would have received the payment, only if they knew. This has left me really angry and upset, as I was waiting on that payment (a little over £10k+vat) and passed on better paying contracts to complete the contract to receive the bonus. Due to error/omission/negligence on part of the agency, I have suffered monetary loss.
I asked the agency to compensate me for the loss of income. The agency intially offered £2k as goodwill gesture, which I refused. They have since revised the offer of extra payment to £2,340 (laughable) only if I stay till July 2019, as per the new contract extension that I signed (before manure hit the fan). If I give my 4 weeks notice for the new contract now, then I get nothing. The agency is putting pressure on me now, implying through the tone and language of emails, that they would rather be happy if I left the new contract. This has left me extremely stressed and now started to get physically ill.
Anyways, focussing on my last contract, can someone kindly guide me? Do I have a case? What are my options?
Is it professional negligence by agency? Breach of contract? Recommendation for a lawyer - where I will not end up paying more money to the lawyer than I am hoping to get back?
Thanks in advance!
I contacted the agency and they admitted that the clause was added by mistake in my contract. However, they are claiming due to the language in the contract, they don't have to remedy anything.
‘The amount of the Completion Payment will be determined by the Client in its sole discretion based on such factors as the Client shall determine in its absolute discretion,
including the quality of the Services and Deliverables provided.’
‘Nothing in this Agreement shall give any Contractor and/or their Consultant(s) any right to the Completion Payment’
However, the question of client discretion does not even arise, when they did not even know about the clause. The client is really happy with my work and I would have received the payment, only if they knew. This has left me really angry and upset, as I was waiting on that payment (a little over £10k+vat) and passed on better paying contracts to complete the contract to receive the bonus. Due to error/omission/negligence on part of the agency, I have suffered monetary loss.
I asked the agency to compensate me for the loss of income. The agency intially offered £2k as goodwill gesture, which I refused. They have since revised the offer of extra payment to £2,340 (laughable) only if I stay till July 2019, as per the new contract extension that I signed (before manure hit the fan). If I give my 4 weeks notice for the new contract now, then I get nothing. The agency is putting pressure on me now, implying through the tone and language of emails, that they would rather be happy if I left the new contract. This has left me extremely stressed and now started to get physically ill.
Anyways, focussing on my last contract, can someone kindly guide me? Do I have a case? What are my options?
Is it professional negligence by agency? Breach of contract? Recommendation for a lawyer - where I will not end up paying more money to the lawyer than I am hoping to get back?
Thanks in advance!
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