Limited company contract

[k1mmie]

My husband is an IT contractor and subsequently had to form a Limited company to trade from. He uses agencies as a form to find the next contract. Here is a brief outline of the case to now :

In February he was verbally promised by an agency a contract for 6 months. However the company said it would provide a 2 weeks then a 6 month as they were trying to get their work signed off with their client. This contract for 2 weeks arrived. At the end of the 2 weeks he kept chasing the 6 month but it was drip-fed to him in a few weeks at a time or a monthly contract at a time. Eventually in the beginning of May he was given yet another months contract. In the first weeks however they call him and say they have no more work and that the project has now changed direction and tell him they dont need him after the following week.

My questions are:

On the back of the contract it states that if the contractor cannot perform his position, through negligence or the likes of he will be given one weeks notice. However the agency will endeavour to give 4 weeks notice should the contract need to be terminated.

As the renewal contract was only for 1 month and he was not terminated through negligence - can he claim payment for the whole of that period?

Obviously the agency are not rushing back to us as we posed this question to them and they informed us that there was a weeks notice. However when he pointed out the wording they have not come back to him.

Any advice appreciated. Please.

[barracad]

Endeavour to give four weeks notice means that they will try and give that, not that they guarantee to do so. Can you post the exact wording?

[k1mmie]

It states " The agency may at any time during the Assignment period instruct the contractor to withdraw the services, whereupon the contractor shall leave the clients premises forthwith and the assignment shall be deemed to be terminated. Without prejudice to other provisions of this condition, the agency shall endeavour to give to the contractor a four week period of notice. It is accepted that the agency has no requirement to endeavour to give notice where termination is because of gross misconduct, negligence or other unprofessional behaviour.

The contracr was dated 30/4/08 and date of finish was 30/5/08. There are no provisions for the contractor so he would have been locked in to the end.

[k1mmie]

Just like to add in addition to above. To date the Agency has never written or sent an email or anything in writing terminating this contract. My husband told the agency that the company had said that they did not need him after another week. The agency said "oh I will get back to you". They came back the week after and said they had received notification that he was not needed. This was not forwarded to him either.

Therefore, where does he stand in claiming the 2 weeks up to the end of the contract when it states:

The agency may at any time during the Assignment period instruct the contractor to withdraw the services

[gni03349]

I used to be an IT contractor too, but because of various things (agencies being one of them!!), I got out of it. It really isn't worth the hassle of trying to get the two weeks from them. You have to put it down to experience. However, if you really want to claim it, you will need somebody to advise on contract law.

As for being tied in, yes, tell me about it... they can get out of it... but you can't.. pretty fair if you ask me! lol.

Out of interest, who is the agency?

[k1mmie]

ECRM People. Trouble is those 2 weeks are worth a lot of money. I Feel that they didn't fulfill their contract obligations and was messed around by their client so much that if I can claim it I will go for it. Then it is up to them to chase their client for it. You are right I need to find legal advice on this first. Thanks.

[gni03349]

Bump... anybody know about contract law???

[Weird Al Yankovic]

Hello

I would suggest your husband has a case here of a breach of contract.

It is not your husbands problem that this agency decides to use an ambiguous statement in it's terms of contract. It is their problem.

To 'endeavour' to give four weeks notice is just not good enough.

Similarly, for example, a contract that may state 'we will try and pay you your salary' is also not good enough.

Either your husband is entitled to four weeks notice or he is not, there is no in-between.

It appears he was not needed half way through May but the contract ran until the end of that month?

In fact, your husband's contract may also have been breached for not receiving the full six months of work as he was promised.

A verbal contract is as good as a written one.

[k1mmie]

How would you recommend he approaches this? Obviously to keep costs down we would like to approach the agency first and ask for the remainder, of the contract to be paid and see what they say. Does anyone have any idea how to word this before seeking legal advice?

[k1mmie]

We intend to start the ball rolling by sending an email, pointing out the breach of contract and failing to fullfill the contract. Any advice on exact wording would be appreciated.

Should we just invoice them along with the email and put the ball in their courts.

Thanks everyone.

[k1mmie]

Other thing is when he first agreed to take on the contract, he was told he would get a six month contract. Then they changed it to 3 weeks now and a 5/6 month to follow. He emailed the agency putting all this in writing. He said is this my understanding that the company are doing this? They replied and said yes that was there understanding also. So where does he stand with this? He turned down a 6 month contract in his possession for this one - and they haven't delivered anything promised.