HELP! - Contractor with a BIG Problem

chris1012

Good Morning,

For the past 2.5 years I was contracting for a very well known company in the UK. I chose to contract after repeated attempts to make me permanent as it was the best option for me in terms of financing (Perm paid far less).

I was one of the senior engineers for the company, likeable to all staff from Directors to standard staff and my knowledge and experience was one that most who had worked or knew about me, agreed was one of the best in my field.

I was involved in many projects and the relationship I had with my manager was one that gave me flexibility to move around when and how I liked as long as the job got done - which till my last date, I never once failed to deliver.

However at the end of March from a one small meeting from my manager, he decided to let me off. He basically got rid of me in such a way that he didn't even inform me and made my agency do the dirty work.

This came to major surprise however after digging out the reasons, it seems it was on the basis of 1. Not logging onto a system enough in my final week, 2. Claiming too much over time and 3. A berevement that caused a mis-understanding.

I will elaborate on the 3 points -

1. In my last 1.5 years my role was to support staff members, in most of my given weeks there I would either do this remotely or make phone calls to contacts to resolve issues. If they did a search into my logging in history for 1.5 years there will see that on some given occasions I did not even log into a system as most of my work was done through emails and calls on the phone and support in person.

2. All my overtime had to be overseen by my line manager to approve first and then passed onto my agency. All my overtime had to have a reason for my line manager to approve, which I never had an issue with getting approved until this fatal day.

3. A member of the family passed away on the previous week and I informed a manager that I had borrowed IT kit from that I was unable to provide it for him due to a bereavement.

This was completely taken out of context. The kit borrowed was non urgent, non impacting and only required for storage.
The kit itself was borrowed in the first place as someone from the HQ messed up the order and subsequently I borrowed it off a managers stock.
The stock that I was going to collect would of been around 5pm or just after working hours. However the funeral itself was at 6 so I wouldn't of been able to do both and as I mentioned it was not an issue of impact, I didn't elaborate in my email.

The next day my manager gets an email from the stock manager asking when I would be returning to work and apparently my manager tried to call me but it went to voicemail (which he didn't leave) and I got missed call alerts the next day (delay of around 20hrs). However the next day I even met my manager at HQ but he didn't mention anything to me about the contact from storage and he seemed to be ok with me.


Going back to the meeting where they let me off, my manager combined points 1 and 3 and said to my agency that as he didn't inform anyone of his absence and not logging in, he had to get rid of me.

2.5 years and he didn't bother to do the job himself.
In this amount of time I had done huge favours for my manager till this day of the meeting from unplanned OOH's, supporting users that did not belong to me, covering for him in meetings etc

The relationship was such that he would always praise and 2 weeks before the meeting he even said he would find me a job once this whole project was completed.

* Speaking to a few collegue they have said it was down to budgeting issues and as I was the highest paid engineer, they think my date to go had been pre destined.

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So above is really the background to what happened and yes I understand as a contractor I don't have much legs, if any to stand on.

HOWEVER the issue is now to do with referencing.

I have been able to get a few personal references of some of the HEADs of functions in the company but with a direct employee reference from my line manager is now an issue.

My agency say they will simply provide dates of work and job title, that it.
The line manager who used to approve my timesheets/OT agreed I was hard done by on the phone and said he would speak to HR to try finding me a job else where and provide me a reference.

It's been 2 weeks and after a few calls and emails, it seems unlikely he will provide it.
Speaking to a colleague recently my main manager who made the decision to get rid of me is apparently making it an issue for the line manager to give me a reference, even though he told him he still will.

So the predicament is how do I go about providing references to potential employers and if I do not get a reference is there anything I can do, as I have been wronged and its impacting my future now.

Sambucus_Nigra

The agency?

Worked for 2.5 years, always this and that, excellent attendance and efficient, personable and accuate yada yada yada

jobbingmusician

Your next employer will not be supplied with an organisational chart of your current employer. If you can get a reference from anyone with a senior enough job title, there should be no problem.

ILW

As a contractor, the company was you customer, not your employer. You cannot force a customer to give you a reference.

System

And the company followed the correct route by informing the agency that you were no longer required. It is not up to the manager to tell you directly as his contract is with the agency to provide somebody.

Same route is followed where I work.

chris1012

!!!!!! wrote: »

And the company followed the correct route by informing the agency that you were no longer required. It is not up to the manager to tell you directly as his contract is with the agency to provide somebody.

Same route is followed where I work.

I understand they followed correct procedures but with regards to reasons given and obtaining a correct reference is the issue.

So far the only route that has been suggested is to go for is character defamation, which probably is a waste of time due how much it would cost....

USM

I think you may be missing the point. You were a hired contractor, they no longer require your services for whatever reason and so they are no longer using you.

There is nothing more to it.

System

How can you go for character defamation when the manager isn't giving you a reference in the first place and there is no right to be given a reference?

zeitghost

1.. you never use an end client as a reference
2.. for new contracts just give the previous agent details (if a reference is ever requested at all - in 15 years have only ever been asked once and they were given a previous agent)
3.. previous agent will just say dates that you have billed
4.. what more do you need as a reference for a contractor - the end client can get rid of you at a moments notice and that is why you are paid so well (a nice ir35 pointer)

If there is no more work for you then that is it the client ends the role - if you want references, notice periods, sick pay, overtime etc etc then go permanent.

If you want to give your previous client as a reference then get ready for the flak of agents actually using that for a sales call rather than references.

You are a business at the end of the day - you should therefore have a business relationship with the end client and not an "employer/employee" one. Nothing annoys me more than a contractor who just wants the money and really just acts as a disguised permie and not a business as every contractor ends up being tarred with the same brush.

agrinnall

I never had a reference from a previous client when I was contracting, and the next client never asked me to provide one. If there is any reason for a client to check before agreeing a contract with you I would expect that done be done by the agency for the new contract getting in touch with the agency for the previous one.

Has any prospective client raised this as an issue? If not I think you are worrying too much.

InsideInsurance

Firstly you need to remember the differences between being a contractor and being an employee. You would never get an employers reference from the people you were working with as they were never your employer, they were your client.

One of the reasons you get 2x the money as a contractor is because of the fact they can dismiss you whenever, however they want without the protection you would have as an employee. 2.5 years is not a bad length of time for a contract at all.

As to references, in all my time either as a contractor or working close to them I am yet to ever have a reference taken. A couple of times I have known them be asked for, a colleague gave my details to an agency a few months ago and in his 8 years of contracting it was the first time ever he'd been asked. They never contacted me for the reference.

The reality of contracting is 90% of the time the person is needed yesterday and whilst you dont want to be taking contractors on left right and centre if they dont work out you just can get rid of them (as you have found out). You likewise take on those who have proven they can do the job today and not someone you think will grow into the role etc and so referencing is less of an issue.