Contractor on daily rate & notice during training period

M

Ms X

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Hi,

Pal worked past month as software development contractor on a daily rate. He was sourced through an agency and the co. sent the days worked to the agency.

During this time he was trained (told to real several manuals and processes- about 1.5 weeks) and worked on some minor projects. After 3 weeks he decided to resign as they didnt have enough work to keep him busy and he has decided to try something new.

They agreed that he could finish up within a week (worked total of 4 weeks)

They have since come back to say they refusing to pay for the time he spent on training as he left. This was not mentioned before or in the contract from agency.

Any thought if this is fair and allowed?
 
Hi,

I am not able to give you a definitive answer but I think this should be defined in the contract between your friend and the agency. The possibility exists that the contract stipulates he is not allowed to give notice i.e. that he must work the full length of the contract. If he has signed something to this effect then he may not have any redress.

My current IT contract states that I am not allowed to give any notice whatsoever and that I must work the full length of the contract. It is not something I am particularly pleased about. It is asymmetric as the agency themselves can give me a month's notice.

Regards,
Gearoid
 
The contract allows either side to give one months notice to get out from the contract.

He is contracted to attend for 8 hours per day at a client's site at a fixed rate. There is no mention of the duties to be completed during this time and he had no control over duties etc. The co decided to train him. He attended as required. There is no mention within the contract that they may not pay the daily rate due to resignation or allow for any deductions.

The company agreed to him leaving short on full notice at the time and place no conditions on this. They also signed off the time sheet for all days. They have now reconsidered. And are refusing to sign off on the time they made him attend training (i.e. reading manuals)

Help very much appreciated.
 
It is up to the agency to sort this out. In fact most agencies pay the contractors before they actually receive the money from the company .
This is why they are getting normally 20% of a fee on your daily rate

The company has to pay and would have no defence here if legal action was taken.

I would firstly get tough with the agency,they have more leverage with the company can refuse to deal with them again etc.
While it would be expensive to go to a solicitor over such a small amount ,I would definitely tell the agency that you are going to the small claims courts . On a point of pronciple I would pursue this to the end
 
Update: The agency has refused to pay him for the full 20 days. The company has refused to sign off on only the time they didnt spend training him.

What now? Is the small claims company an option since he is not as such an employee but a contractor who invoices them?
 

Yes,the small claims court is for any small legal case
 
That is quite disgraceful. Suggest that he asks to speak to someone more senior within the agency and make LOTS of noise.

I'd say the company are cheesed off and putting pressure on the agency. Agency have probably told the company they won't charge them for his time and will find someone else pronto. Thats their choice!

However this doesn't mean that they can ignore the contract they had in place with the contract worker. Keep us posted on developments!
 
Hi, Thx for above comments. But the agency have refused point blank to pay.

They mentioned at one stage that the held 'crisis talks' with the company to stop them from dropping them as an agency. I suspect as Lauren said above that they agreed to waiver the fee to the company

So if the small claims court doesnt apply, where can he go?

Thx
 
I assume to a solicitor and get advice, because they've broken the contract. Start of with a legal letter demanding payment.

..and start a blog...?
 
Just to update - they pushed it and said tell your solicitor to contact our solicitor. Solicitor sent a note saying if you dont pay up we will see you in court. So they considered it and quickly decided to pay the lot.

The legal argument was by not signing any contract the verbal agreement of €X per day was payable.

Thx for your help!
 
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