Seeking legal advice, contractor

[Ross1988]

Good evening all,

It's a bit of a long one, so bare with me. There is a bit of background, The company involved owe me circa £1500 in outstanding monies from work conducted over 8 months ago. It has just come around to getting sorted out when I have been hit with a 'minor' speedbump.

I was asked to do a shift (The work I do for them is not consistent and is usually at weekends) for them on the night of 12th June, they asked me 3 weeks prior to this to do this for them.

I totally forgot about the shift, and in conclusion it never went ahead, and was rescheduled for the Friday, of which I completed.

Now I hold my hands up and say I've messed up here, but It's not totally my fault. Let me explain:

• There is a weekly email, sent out on a Monday with a resource plan, I never received one in the weeks preceding the shift. A single proceeding resource email was sent late with ' Sorry bud, missed you off for some reason'. Great.

• Usually my project manager will ring me on the day of the shift, confirming location,times and kit I need. This did not happen.

• If I did go to the shift as planned, No one turned up with any kit, so would of failed anyway. As a contractor I have no access to kit, and even if I did, It would not fit in my car.

• No paperwork (Task briefs and project plans) were sent to me, which I usually get.

• Total lack of correspondence of any kind basically.

Now I know I messed up, but today I received and email from my project manager, saying it cost £1500 (Coincidence?) to sort out, and that we should maybe cancel some of my outstanding invoice to recompense the company.

Can he do this? Now I think my project manager thinks he has me over a barrel, and that he is my only avenue to work (Just today I got accepted for an engineering role up in Sellafield) Which is not true, and I think he is trying to shaft me.

Or am I just gonna have to bend over with no lube?

Any advice is greatly welcomed, as I've only just finished uni and £1500 is a lot of money!

Regards

Ross

[Cyberprog]

Do you wish to continue working for the company? Knowing this is fairly important, as if you don't wish to continue working for them allows you to go for the nuclear option of simply refusing and demanding your money, or taking them to court. If it goes to court, they'll have to show how your non-appearance for the shift cost them that money, and what they've done (if anything) to mitigate it. You can in turn point out their failure to follow the normal procedure and any other pertinent information.
If you do wish to continue working for them, then you must tread lighter. Point out the same things and leave it at that, if they continue to push, you may have to give a bit back in terms of a discount, but I'd refuse to take the whole amount though as it doesn't sound like you're 100% at fault here...

[TurricanII]

+1 to considering whether you want to work for them, but I'd be pretty annoyed at this point having not been paid an amount owed for so long.

The amounts owed are two separate entities. If it was clear that the job could not have gone ahead due to those other factors then I would invite the PM to break down the costs as he sees it, showing amounts of costs apportioned to yourself the other parties, so that you can consider the costs he has put to you.

Did you invoice for the £1500 owed to you? Did you have interest terms for non/late payment?

Circumstances differ of course, but I myself not by shy of mentioning small claims court to the PM.

[Ross1988]

Hi,

Thanks for the advice you pair. Much appreciated. No, I do not want to work for the company. I do not wish to work for a company where bullying of a employee is the standard way of covering up ones mistakes.

I'm taking advice from a solicitor later today, of which I mentioned to the PM. He advised me against it, with a vague threat of no work in the future.

Least of my concerns of I'm honest. As I plan on working the nuclear option in Sellafield. It's a 12 month working contract. I could not ask for a better and more comprehensive contract.

I've replied to his e-mail, with me listing the gross errors of others that accrued to get us into this situation.

I'll let you know what he replies as and when.

Not a nice situation to be in!

Ross

And no, I did not put interest charged on my invoices. I'm new to the ltd company game

[Cyberprog]

You don't need it in your terms, it's statutory - see the late payment of commercial debts legislation.