Legal Advice for Contractors
We get legal advice for contractors who have problems with their agencies.
A Contractor contacted us for advice on this matter and so we gladly gave it. However, we thought that it would be a good idea to ask a legal firm with experience of IT Contractors for their advice.
Here is the question again and their answer to it.
Contract Ending
After being out of work for 6 months and only being 5 weeks into a contract that the agency told me was for 6 months, they just told me that my contract is ending.
So, it seems that the client had always believed that the contract had been for only 5 weeks anyway.
This is absolutely astounding and sickening by. I thought “I should be good for the next six months”. So, I turned down a six-month contract with another company because the terms of this one were slightly better and slightly closer to home.
The agency knew about the other contract offer.
Upped the Length
In fact they told me originally that this contract is only for 5 weeks and I told the agency at the time that I had a longer contract on offer.
They said, therefore, that they would contact the client to see if they would take me on for longer. They came back and said that the client had agreed to a six-month contract.
So, I was over the moon as I am in some financial difficulty after six months out of work.
The client is as bemused as I am.
There is a one-week notice period on the contract and the agency said that the client triggered that.
Dr. McLaughlin, is there anything I can do about this?
Gilhams Solicitors Legal Advice for Contractors
Contract law governs agreements between two parties.
So in this case, the contractor and the agency appear to have a binding contract for the services of the contractor for 6 months.
Unless the contract contains a break clause, or some other clause entitling the agency to terminate at short notice, we would think that the agency would be liable for damages for the losses sustained by the contractor by reason of the breach – ending the contract before it had run its course.
That sum, therefore, would probably be in the order of the contract price over the course of the six month period.
Of course, you have to consider every contract with reference to the facts and you should seek independent legal advice for contractors for an opinion that takes in the contract and your situation.
Contact Details
If anyone else has similar trouble and would like specialist legal advice for contractors, the contact details of the legal firm who supplied it are as follows:-
Leigh Ellis
[email protected]
Gillhams Solicitors
Tel : 020 8965 4266
www.gillhams.com
