Agency withholding payments - help

[Mia F]

Hi,

 

Can anyone please help with the following.

 

I am a freelance creative. I started contracting for a company (the end client) through a creative agency. I use an umbrella company to deal with my invoices.

 

I was booked on a daily rate. My initial booking did not include overtime payment. Shortly after I started freelancing the client asked me to do overtime. They got in touch with my agency to confirm this request. My agency asked me if I wanted to do overtime and I said yes. The agency confirmed the hourly overtime rate by email and I informed my umbrella company (with the agency cc´d on the email).

 

I filled in my weekly timesheets with the days (start time and finish time) and the overtime hours per day. The timesheets were signed by the client and sent weekly to the agency.

 

Two of the timesheets including overtime were paid in full.

 

The following week the agency fails to proceed with the weekly payment as confirmed on their booking form (which I interpret as part of their contractual obligations). I ask why I haven´t been paid since the agency received all timesheets and invoices on time.

 

At this point they hold four weekly timesheets that have not been paid - all of them containing overtime.

 

They come back to me saying that they don´t pay overtime and I need to reissue the invoices with no overtime included.

 

I reply asking who decided that and when since I wasn´t informed I shouldn´t be doing overtime - I had been doint overtime at the company for the past 4 weeks, the clientt signed those timesheets and I submitted them to the agency.

 

Surely if I wasn´t supposed to do overtime someone at the company would have told me (they saw me coming in early in the morning and staying late at night) or the agency when they saw my weekly timesheets? Not come back to me after 4 complete weeks saying that they´re not paying my invoices because they have not agreed with overtime?!

 

In addition, on my initial booking it states the start time but not the end time. On the timesheet provided by the agency it says that overtime starts from 6pm to 9pm. When I started I asked to the client what were my daily hours and I was told 10am to 6.30pm.

I thought that was fine, although it was an extra 30min after 6pm I was Ok in giving that time to the client, one always ends up staying a bit longer anyway.

 

On top of claiming that they don´t pay for overtime, the agency came back to me saying that since I was working 10am to 6.30pm I wasn´t doing a complete day of 8h of work that I should be doing 10am to 7pm and that they would charge me back 30min for everyday I left at 6.30pm. In my understanding this is not only ridiculous it´s outrageous because:

- I was told by the client work hours were 10am to 6.30pm;

- I was booked on a daily rate - no matter when I leave for the day the client always has to pay a full day of work;

- because I am on a daily rate the agency cannot charge me half an hour of a normal day´s work;

- The agency´s own timesheet states that overtime starts from 6pm so if in any case if any is due 30min payment it´s me not the agency;

 

So, they asked for a credit note of all the overtime they suddenly decided is not payable plus the extra 30 daily min they decided I should the working everyday (despite the client signing the timesheets confirming all´s Ok).

 

Because I challenged what I consider to be an extortion (my paperwork is all in order), they took the liberty to withhold all my payments since the beginning of March to force me to agree in asking my umbrella company to provide them with a credit note of the amount they´re claiming.

 

This is completely abusive - it would be bad enough if they withheld the amount they think they´re claiming back but withholding ALL my payments (which is currently about 4 times the amount they´re claiming) is taking a serious financial stroll on me.

 

They currenlty have 7 invoices outstanding (none of them include overtime so there is NO reason for not paying them - I reissued invoices with no overtime for the ones outstanding to comply with their stupid request and accelerate my payments), I haven´t been paid in weeks and I´m in panic as I have to pay my bills and rent.

 

I tried to reason with the agency but the self-absorbed monster that´s making all this trouble could not care less about the impact of her actions.

 

The client´s happy with my work. I am happy with them. The agency is making up all this mess and withholding all my payments.

 

What can I do? Is there a way I can force her to pay?? Can I complain to someone?

 

The agency is seriously affecting my ability to support myself and causing me great distress.

 

Help...

 

Thanks.

[Emmzzi]

Small claims court via money claim online.

[steampowered]

Yes, you can force them to pay by starting litigation. You are not classed as an employee so you would need to claim in County Court, not in the Employment Tribunal. If you want to start litigation you may wish to click the triangle below your post to ask someone from the site team to move this into the Legal Issues forum.

 

I would start by sending them a 'letter before action'. This letter should state the amount you feel you are due, explain that the agency promised to pay you an hourly rate for overtime and that you were booked on an hourly rate. State that if the money is not paid within 14 days you will start County Court proceedings against the agency for breach if contract. If the agency does not comply, then file a claim against them on Money Claim Online. Let us know if you need help with this, I'm sure people would be happy to look at draft letters or a draft claim form if this would help.

 

Of course, the agency is probably not under an obligation to keep giving you work in the future. Bear this in mind and perhaps tell the client about this if you think appropripate.