Contract ended - not getting paid
mickd27
Posts: 57 Forumite
Hi,
I was contracting through my limited company with a recruitment agency for over 2 years. The contract has now ended but they still owe my limited company 8 weeks wages totalling £8,000. The agency say they won't pay me until they receive the money from the company I was working for.
I read the contract and it says they won't pay me until they receive the money from the company I was working for.
The company are in a bad way so I'm worried that if I don't do anything about it I will never get the money I have worked for.
So now I am sitting here waiting for the money to be paid in. Is there anything else I can do or am I totally screwed? Could I threaten court action on the company to pay me the money? The time sheets were signed off so there is proof that I worked those hours. At the moment they probably have cash flow problems which is why they haven’t paid me. Would I be better waiting and seeing if things improve for the company before taking legal action?
I was contracting through my limited company with a recruitment agency for over 2 years. The contract has now ended but they still owe my limited company 8 weeks wages totalling £8,000. The agency say they won't pay me until they receive the money from the company I was working for.
I read the contract and it says they won't pay me until they receive the money from the company I was working for.
The company are in a bad way so I'm worried that if I don't do anything about it I will never get the money I have worked for.
So now I am sitting here waiting for the money to be paid in. Is there anything else I can do or am I totally screwed? Could I threaten court action on the company to pay me the money? The time sheets were signed off so there is proof that I worked those hours. At the moment they probably have cash flow problems which is why they haven’t paid me. Would I be better waiting and seeing if things improve for the company before taking legal action?
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Comments
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Hi,
I was contracting through my limited company with a recruitment agency for over 2 years. The contract has now ended but they still owe my limited company 8 weeks wages totalling £8,000. The agency say they won't pay me until they receive the money from the company I was working for.
I read the contract and it says they won't pay me until they receive the money from the company I was working for.
The company are in a bad way so I'm worried that if I don't do anything about it I will never get the money I have worked for.
So now I am sitting here waiting for the money to be paid in. Is there anything else I can do or am I totally screwed? Could I threaten court action on the company to pay me the money? The time sheets were signed off so there is proof that I worked those hours. At the moment they probably have cash flow problems which is why they haven’t paid me. Would I be better waiting and seeing if things improve for the company before taking legal action?
Yes you can threaten court action.
On what basis are would you consider threatening such action? Breach of contract? Have they breached it?0 -
Yes you can threaten court action.
On what basis are would you consider threatening such action? Breach of contract? Have they breached it?
The contract is written by the recruitment agency who say in the contract if they don't receive any money from the company then they won't pay me. I've worked over 260 hours and received no money for it. Rather than taking the agency to court I'm thinking of going direct to the company itself.
They have signed off the hours so surely these should be paid for if they have the funds.0 -
I could be just a cash flow problem. You are not an employee of this company but a supplier. Some companies have a pecking order with regards to when they pay suppliers so you might have been put down the pecking order now that you are no longer supplying.
I see no problem with contacting the company to see what is causing the delay. I would make sure you speak to the person who commissioned you and not let them fob you off with the accounts department.0 -
Mistral001 wrote: »I could be just a cash flow problem. You are not an employee of this company but a supplier. Some companies have a pecking order with regards to when they pay suppliers so you might have been put down the pecking order now that you are no longer supplying.
I see no problem with contacting the company to see what is causing the delay. I would make sure you speak to the person who commissioned you and not let them fob you off with the accounts department.
Okay yeah thanks for this.0 -
You don't have a contract with the end client, your contract is with the recruitment agency. The recruitment agency have the contract with the end client. So therefore you can't take the end client to court for breach of contract, as you don't have a contract with them.
How long is it since the contract ended? What are your normal payment terms, and have they expired yet?
So, for example, if you would expect to get paid at the end of October for the work you did in September, the payment period isn't up yet.
What's your relationship with the recruitment company? I would be ringing whoever you normally talk to, and having a calm and professional discussion with them, to see what's going on.
If things do go pear-shaped, the recruitment company will have to line up with all the other creditors and may or may not receive the money owed to them.No longer a spouse, or trailing, but MSE won't allow me to change my username...0 -
trailingspouse wrote: »You don't have a contract with the end client, your contract is with the recruitment agency. The recruitment agency have the contract with the end client. So therefore you can't take the end client to court for breach of contract, as you don't have a contract with them.
How long is it since the contract ended? What are your normal payment terms, and have they expired yet?
So, for example, if you would expect to get paid at the end of October for the work you did in September, the payment period isn't up yet.
What's your relationship with the recruitment company? I would be ringing whoever you normally talk to, and having a calm and professional discussion with them, to see what's going on.
If things do go pear-shaped, the recruitment company will have to line up with all the other creditors and may or may not receive the money owed to them.
I have spoken to my recruitment agent, he said he would look into it for me but never got back to me. I then emailed the payroll department of the agency and their exact words were we don’t know when the money will be received but once the money comes in you will be contacted. So it looks like I am now playing a waiting game just didn’t know if this is the right thing to do or should I be doing more to get the money.
As you say the contract is with the agency so it looks like there is nothing I can do apart from just wait and see if they pay up.
Normal paying terms is weekly but they are delayed by 4 weeks from when you work those specific hours. At the moment I should have received all pay up to a month ago. My contract ended 20th of September so I should be only waiting for 1 or 2 more pays and not 8.0 -
This is one of the risks of contracting and in part why hourly/daily rates are higher.
Your contract is with the agency and so you need to double check what the terms are you signed. At the end of the day if it’s paid is paid then it may be a bit of a wait and may not get anywhere. Need to remember this is a B2B relationship without the protection of being an employee so may be a painful lesson on contract negotiations and client selection.0 -
This is one of the risks of contracting and in part why hourly/daily rates are higher.
Your contract is with the agency and so you need to double check what the terms are you signed. At the end of the day if it’s paid is paid then it may be a bit of a wait and may not get anywhere. Need to remember this is a B2B relationship without the protection of being an employee so may be a painful lesson on contract negotiations and client selection.
The terms aren’t really in my favour other than once they receive the money from the end client then they will pay me. It says if the company goes into liquidation then the agency has no obligation to pay me. Looks like I'm screwed to be honest.0 -
What if the company doesn't go bust and win a project or 2 next year sometime.
It is likely they could pay the agency then?0 -
Effectively your contract is illegal under the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977.
The people you contract to can't use a contract term that states you get paid only when they get paid.
Your contract is with them, not their client.
You now need to send a letter to them stating that unless they pay you within 14 days, action will be started against them. Just ignore the contract term about them not being paid as the court will simply ignore it as it is illegal.Eat vegetables and fear no creditors, rather than eat duck and hide.0
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