Subcontractor being refused payment I’m a IT contractor based in the United Kingdom, I have my own limited company. Recently I have been working on a project for a client through a recruitment company. My contract is with the recruitment company who has then sub contracted me to the end client. Last month the end client went into administration. The client went into administration at the start of October, the recruitment company is now refusing to pay me for the work I completed during the previous month September, as they will not get paid by the end client. The recruitment company claims they have the right to do this because I the contractor opted out of "The Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003" and our contract states under the sections termination. "The Company reserves the right to terminate a Project with immediate effect with out liability in the event of any of the Client entering into liquidation/becoming insolvent, dissolved or subject to a winding up petition or administration order, or having its credit rating revoked or materially reduced." As the recruitment company is still operational and they themselves have not gone into liquidation can they refuse to pay me the subcontractor for work I have already completed? The section on terminations seems to be referring to cost that maybe occurred from the sudden termination of the project not work already completed. Where does a contractor stand in this situation?
They can terminate the "Project" (presumably defined elsewhere) if the client blah, blah, blah, however, they must still pay you for the work you did prior to them terminating the Project (if, in fact, they have terminated it - they have the right but they still have to exercise it). Hire a lawyer.
Generally a signature is binding even if you have not read the document you have signed; as far as the law is concerned you should have and it's too bad for you if you didn't. Of course, this presumes the contract is otherwise valid. In the circumstances you describe you should ask to see the document before signing. If that is not possible, then instead of signing you should write "I do not agree" instead and take the printed statement - only 1 in 100 people will actually check that you did sign. If you have signed and do not wish to be bound, you should contact the company immediately in writing and say that and that they can collect whatever goods they have supplied.
Don’t be a dick Tell your earlier employer that you can no longer take the position rather than have them waste time and resources on you. You can try to negotiate a waiver of the break cost, most people will agree. If they want to hold you to the letter of your contract then you’ll know you were lucky not to work there; pay them what you owe them and move on.
According to your description, you have a contract to work 200 hours, and this must be accomplished between May 12 and July 10. Apparently you are 25 hour short on that obligation, which may mean that you probably will be in breach of contract. I don't see what error there is w.r.t. the date: whatever the contract says, that is what you agreed to. Perhaps you are wholely responsible for the shortfall of hours, or perhaps the employer bears some responsibility (e.g. making it impossible for you to work). It sounds like the employer is offering you an accommodation so that you can fulfill the hours part of the contract, by extending the termination date. Technically, you also have to do the work by a particular date, but a reasonable delay in performance is standardly allowed under contract law, unless the contract has a &quot;time is of the essence&quot; clause which states that completion by the specific date is essential to the contract. If not, then there is reasonable flexibility in completion. Doing less than you contracted for, on the other hand, is not a standardly-available option. Pursuant to the comment, it sort of sounds like the employer made it impossible to satisfy the conditions of the contract, and wants to use the end of contract date as a form of hardball to extract additional hours (i.e. &quot;we'll sue you for breach of contract for not having done this by the deadline, unless you agree to work an additional 15 hours&quot;). Hardcore deadlines without a time is of the essence clause don't support a claim for damages in case of minor delay, and even less so when the employer bears responsibility for the delay. Consulting an attorney (bring in the contract and all), in this case, would be a good idea, if they are hinting at a lawsuit if you just walk away 15 hours short, or won't accept your compromise.
An agreement to agree is void There is a multitude of case law on this point. If the NDA was not available to you when you signed the employment contract and the term was couched as you describe; then the term would be unenforcable. That is, your employment contract would be binding except for that term i.e. you could not be compelled to sign the NDA. Now, there may be a requirement on you to negotiate in good faith in an attempt to find an NDA you can agree to but if you can't find one you can't find one. You cannot (legally) be fired for this reason. Now, if the NDA was available, and you were told where to find it, and irrespective of if you did or didn't find it, you would be bound to the NDA.
An employee is an agent of the employer when working and owes a duty of loyalty to the employer. One of the obligations associated with a duty of loyalty is to refrain from receiving anything other than the employer authorized compensation for the work, rather than benefitting personally from work done on behalf of the employer. By appropriating additional benefit from the customer in a way that is unauthorized by the employer (the employer would be within its rights to sanction and authorize this conduct if desired), an employee who does not turn the profit in this transaction over to the employer has breached a fiduciary duty to the employer for which the employer would have a right to sue the employee for the amount by which the employee was unjustly enriched in the transaction. Would it actually play out this way in real life for these sums of money? Probably not. The stakes involved wouldn't justify the time and money of a lawsuit. But, breaching a fiduciary duty of loyalty to your employer in this context probably constitutes good cause to terminate the employment of the employee without paying severance that would otherwise be payable under Canadian employment law (in theory anyway, I've never seen a reported court case on point).
Provincial jurisdiction may need to be specified. But in general, assuming you are not covered by a collective bargaining agreement, you can be terminated for any reason or even no reason, as long as the contract is followed, the actual or apparent reason is not discriminatory or otherwise illegal and the termination procedure meets the provincial employment standards. The labour law usually provide requirements for notice periods or severance pay (or both), unless there exists a just cause (e.g. extreme disregard of duty, theft, repeated insubordination, etc.; lack of funds on the part of the employer is not a just cause). shouldn't the employer be fully responsible for the salary coverage of his employee in the course of his contract? Yes, but the contract is saying it can be terminated under certain conditions, after which time you are no longer &quot;in the course&quot; of your contract. Termination due to lack of funds is usually not considered discriminatory or otherwise illegal. You remain entitled to wages for any period you have worked. Additionally, the employer needs to respect the required notice period or severance pay under the provincial employment standards related to termination with or without cause, regardless of the funding situation.
Do I give my letter 60 days from the end of the contract, or 60 days before September? My boss told me that it would be 60 days before the end of the contract, but I wanted a second opinion. Your boss is wrong. The contract requires a party to give a 60-day notice only if the party intends to override the default condition that "the contract shall run for the full term named above". Since your contract ends on June 30th and you plan on working there up to and including that date, you are abiding by the [contract] default condition. Therefore, you are not required to send a notice for something you are not intending to do (namely, to terminate the contract ahead of schedule). The information you provide here does not reflect any language in your current contract relating to subsequent contracts/renewals. The existence of such language might or might not change the assessment. That issue aside, you might want to ensure that the preliminary offer made to you verbally be somehow reflected in writing. It will not be more binding than the verbal offer, but that evidence could prove useful in the event that the new employer unexpectedly changes its mind at a time when your current employer has discarded you for contract renewal. Your prospective employer should become aware of how its request for a reference from your boss jeopardizes a renewal with your current employer.