Is this perfectly legal?

[VectraMan]

Why are you requesting permission to be let go in such a wishy washy fashion? If it says you can give 1 week notice, give your 1 week notice.

[eek]

Good Friday is on April 18th

[stek]

EDIT: Sure this was in General when I replied...

Was it the 'relieve me' bits?

[northernladuk]

Is it legal to hold back people even though they are unhappy with the work and place and especially when the candidate has requested he be relieve only one week (3-4 days) early?

It is if that is what is documented in your contract. Asking for time off during notice period is a grey area and is always going to create some ill feeling as you are effectively leaving early.

which was not agreed originally but I didn't mind because I do have the necessary skill set.

As pointed out by Antman be careful of this. Won't matter in this instance but be aware of it and don't make it the norm in future contracts.

As DD said the notice periods do look the wrong way around but there is no real precedence so could be right. If your contract says you can give one week notice then I can't see why you can't just mail the agent giving him notice and leave in a week. It appears in this instance by giving him a month you are doing him a favour. Always remember your agent's cut is at risk. If you leave early he doesn't make any money so that is his main driver for keeping you on site. Don't take any bulltulip. If your contract says one week and you give that (in writing) then there is nothing he can do but moan and threaten you. He may try withhold payment but he can't legally do this so just send some tulipty mails to him and you will get your cash.

Make absolutely sure you are correct about your notice periods though. If you are 100% sure then just drop him a not and say as per article (whatever) I am giving one weeks notice and will be leaving on (date). Shouldn't be anything else for you to do.

I would also question why you want to go through all this polava for the matter of a few weeks though.

[Guest]

Too many responses in such a short time.. Apologies as I have not read all of them as I am in the office but will do so when I go back home..

Let me answer a few of the points raised..

I got the Good Friday date wrong it's for 2015... :-(

The notice is 1 week from the client and one month from my side if I have to leave.. I assumed it to be 4 weeks rather than one month.

I have got another 6 month contract and I gave them a date of 1st April joining date as I didn't expect this to get dragged on and 4 weeks notice was enough for me to get out...

Btw this is the response I got from the agency

"Unfortunately SJ has left C as of last Friday (7th March).

Unless we are notified otherwise by T your last working day with them will be the final day of your current contract which is Friday 4th April."

[Gordon Ice]

I am not sure if this is the right forum but here goes.

I started a 3 month contract via a agency back in 08-01-2014 with the end date on my contract being 04-04-2014. The contract notice terms are 1 week notice from me and one month notice from the agency.

I am not happy with the work and the place in general and I notified my agent approx one month into the contract. My agent told me to see how things go since it's only a 3 months contract. Before joining the agent kept calling me continuously to tell me how great the working environment was.

After one more one month I decided I have had enough and spoke to my agent about my plans to NOT extend the contract and requested that I be relieved early. I had 5 weeks left on my contract at that time

In the meantime I spoke the client directly and mentioned him of my intentions. He was suprised because the agent had not told him about my plans and the client said that he will have to see if he can relieve me early. But then I noticed I started getting more work, which was not agreed originally but I didn't mind because I do have the necessary skill set.

In the meantime my agent emailed me quoting that the earliest day I can leave is the end date as per the contract (04-04-2014).

I asked my manager again for a end date and this time I suggested 28th March 2014 i.e a total of 4 weeks since I notified him of my intentions of not extending and I also mentioned I wanted the last week off because of Good Friday etc.

My manager has still not bothered to reply to my emails or speak to me about it. I have sent a strong worded email to my agent asking him for a response.

Is it legal to hold back people even though they are unhappy with the work and place and especially when the candidate has requested he be relieve only one week (3-4 days) early?

This has to be a sockie..

[GlenW]

This has to be a sockie..

Why?

[Guest]

IR35 alert but hey-ho if it's only 4 months.

I need to read upon this IR35 especially this scenario..

I thought I am allowed to do any work as long as I have got the necessary skillset

[DirtyDog]

The notice is 1 week from the client and one month from my side if I have to leave.. I assumed it to be 4 weeks rather than one month.

The problem comes from this line in your original post:

After one more one month I decided I have had enough and spoke to my agent about my plans to NOT extend the contract and requested that I be relieved early. I had 5 weeks left on my contract at that time

How did you word that request? If you gave notice then, then there is nothing they can do to stop you leaving. If you didn't explicitly give notice, then unless you want to break the contract, you stick it out until the 4th.

Unless we are notified otherwise by T your last working day with them will be the final day of your current contract which is Friday 4th April."

If the client aren't going to terminate early (and you haven't given notice properly), then you have a choice - you either stick to the contract or you break it.

If you break it, then you run the risk that they will play silly buggers about paying your last invoice (which they may do anyway), so that's a risk to consider.

I'd go back to the new contract, explain that the agency have lost the record of you giving notice as the person you were dealing with has left now, and ask them to delay your start by a week. If they can, then that's great; if they won't then you're back to deciding whether to cut and run or stick it out.

[DirtyDog]

I need to read upon this IR35 especially this scenario..

I thought I am allowed to do any work as long as I have got the necessary skillset

Not sure what you've been reading, but I'd start looking at other guides instead.