Witholding pay of a freelance

pedro606

Hi,
PLease if someone can advise. My daughter is a freelance make up artist at a studio in London. In the past few weeks she has been treated badly by her employer. She spoke with him and told him she is going to look for another studio but will see out her rota. She also offered to help 'train up' a new artist to the standard required.
She was then verbally abused extremely badly and even threatened to watch her back. The abuse was of an homophobic nature which she reported to the police. They cant take any action apparently.
She the told him she cannot continue working in his studio and has since found another position where she is happy.
The problem now is that he is refusing to pay her for the days she invoiced him for. About a £1000.
She is freelance, 24 yrs old and not part of any trade union.

She is really worried about what she can do. The guy is a nasty piece of work.

She has copies of all the work invoices. I am desperate too. She is in London and I am an OAP in Wales.
Can someone please advise on what we can and should do.
regards,

Pete

SueC_2

What are his reasons for refusing to pay, and what are the contract terms between them relating to payment / ending the contract / notice periods etc?

gb12345

pedro606 wrote: »

In the past few weeks she has been treated badly by her employer.

Firstly, she does not not have an employer, she has a client (may seem like nit picking, but it is important she understands that).

pedro606 wrote: »

She has copies of all the work invoices. I am desperate too. She is in London and I am an OAP in Wales.
Can someone please advise on what we can and should do.
regards,

She will need to check the terms of the contract that she has with the client to ensure there is nothing in there that allows him to withhold the paymant, but ultimately, her only recourse is to take small claims action.

She will first need to send the client a "letter before action" requesting payment of her outstanding invoices.

If they don't pay then she can proceed to issue a small claims action - it is fairly simple and can be done online.

pedro606

Hi,
Thanks for that advice. I was thinking along same lines that small claims court only action.
There is no written contract. But that is normal in this profession in studios in London.
He has given no explaination as why will not pay. In fact refuses communicate with my daughter.
It has surfaced that he has done this to other ones who have left. I have no idea what action, if any, they took.
He is not what one would describe as a reasonable person. A self made millionaire etc. Has a few different businesses in and around London.
My daughter is literally frightened of him. He has threatened her with violence but she cannot prove that. She does have a recorded phone conversation with him where he made awful homophobic comments and told her to watch her back. My daughter is a lesbian.
As mentioned before. She reported it all to police.
I have asked her to contact citizens advice but I guess they will same the same as you have said.
She constantly leaves messages on answerphone. She is too frightened to confront him. He has been known to use violence.
I guess any written communication should be by some special delivery to prove acceptance etc.
Sorry if I am coming across naive but I am also so worried for her.
Thankfully now she has found a nice place to work. Problem is that it is in the area of Fitzrovia.
kindest regards,

Peter

pedro606

gb12345 wrote: »

Firstly, she does not not have an employer, she has a client (may seem like nit picking, but it is important she understands that).



She will need to check the terms of the contract that she has with the client to ensure there is nothing in there that allows him to withhold the paymant, but ultimately, her only recourse is to take small claims action.

She will first need to send the client a "letter before action" requesting payment of her outstanding invoices.

If they don't pay then she can proceed to issue a small claims action - it is fairly simple and can be done online.

Forgot to ask in reply. When she writes to him what sort of timescales if any should she include?

thanks. Peter

pedro606

SueC wrote: »

What are his reasons for refusing to pay, and what are the contract terms between them relating to payment / ending the contract / notice periods etc?

There is no contract but that is normal in this sort of freelance make up work in LOndon. She has a rota of work etc. She invoices them for work done and is then paid about two weeks after invoiced.
He is a nasty piece of work. No explanaition as to why refuses to pay. Just doesnt reply to her by phone, email etc. He has history of this apparently. Not agreements on contract ending etc. As mentioned before she has copies of invoices that she has submitted to him.

thanks for any advice.

Peter

gb12345

pedro606 wrote: »

Forgot to ask in reply. When she writes to him what sort of timescales if any should she include?

thanks. Peter

14 days is the norm.

You can find some more info on the CAB website here http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/england/consumer_e/consumer_taking_action_e/consumer_legal_actions_e/consumer_small_claims_e/before_you_take_someone_to_court/step_one_write_a_letter_before_action.htm.

I am surprised that the police would not take action against the homophobic comments - particularly as there is evidence. It might be worth her pushing that further and not just accepting the response she initially got (probably from a civilian desk clerk?).

pedro606

gb12345 wrote: »

14 days is the norm.

You can find some more info on the CAB website here http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/england/consumer_e/consumer_taking_action_e/consumer_legal_actions_e/consumer_small_claims_e/before_you_take_someone_to_court/step_one_write_a_letter_before_action.htm.

I am surprised that the police would not take action against the homophobic comments - particularly as there is evidence. It might be worth her pushing that further and not just accepting the response she initially got (probably from a civilian desk clerk?).

Many thanks indeed. for your kind reply.
I too was surprised the police could take no action. They actually called round to see her. All they told her was that it is noted and to report to them again if it continues. Something then about a restraining order to be put on him. Apparently homophobic comments not treated the same as racist comments. I have not heard the telephone conversation she had with the guy. She broke down telling me about it. Listening to it would have upset me too much.
Its a horrible situation she is in with him. Just want to take it step by step.
I would love to tell everyone about the studio but know it could go against her by naming him and the company.
thanks,
Peter

Sharon87

Ask for advice on

https://www.tvwatercooler.org in the numpties or the sweat team section. You can name and shame people who refuse to pay or just ask for advice.

Alternatively email the Unit List team who campaign against unpaid work, found this on their website:

If the nature of your enquiry relates to unpaid work issues, please contact us on admin@theunitlist.com

This is important especially if the employer has done this before. There is all sorts of people who refuse to pay for various reasons in TV and we need to let them know we don't take it.

Keep us updated

Sharon87

pedro606 wrote: »

Many thanks indeed. for your kind reply.
I too was surprised the police could take no action. They actually called round to see her. All they told her was that it is noted and to report to them again if it continues. Something then about a restraining order to be put on him. Apparently homophobic comments not treated the same as racist comments. I have not heard the telephone conversation she had with the guy. She broke down telling me about it. Listening to it would have upset me too much.
Its a horrible situation she is in with him. Just want to take it step by step.
I would love to tell everyone about the studio but know it could go against her by naming him and the company.
thanks,
Peter

She can anonymously shame him on the website I posted in my above post, which is full on industry professionals.

pedro606

Sharon87 wrote: »

Ask for advice on

If the nature of your enquiry relates to unpaid work issues, please contact us on [EMAIL="admin@theunitlist.com"]admin@theunitlist.com[/EMAIL]

This is important especially if the employer has done this before. There is all sorts of people who refuse to pay for various reasons in TV and we need to let them know we don't take it.

Keep us updated

Thanks Sharon. Firstly she has no contract as is quite normal in make up studios in London. Secondly I notice you are mainly for TV and Film freelance workers. In the past she has done some short film work etc but this problem with non payment of invoiced work is with a make up studio. The studio does deal with want to be fashion models etc etc.
Would you be able to help at all taking that into account?
I assume you have read my other comments about this guy. Oddly enough TV wanted to do a programme on him a couple of years ago about self made millionaires but he refused!
kindest regards,

Peter