Signed a contract but no work to be done

Business
1

Hi everyone,

I was hoping i could get some advice from here.

I have recently signed a contract to work for a company developing mobile apps.
The contract is full time but the client has not provided any work, so understandably they dont want to pay me for doing nothing.

I have raised the issue a few times but all i get told is “its coming, its coming”, meanwhile i am not earning, nor am i available for other work. Basically i am carrying the loss of the company’s client delays.

Now after 3 weeks i feel i am at the point where i cannot afford to wait any more. I am also rather unhappy to work for these people anymore as I don’t think they appreciate what they are doing… or they are really smart and understand exactly what they are doing - minimising their costs but having a developer resource on hand when they need it.

In the first week i attended an all day meeting in another city so i can invoice for 1 day plus my expenses (1 train ticket).

If i quit now i don’t think they will even give me that days pay. I have already lost more than 10 days pay so i am tempted to write it off.

I have gone through my contract and it says normal hours are 7.5 hours / 5 days a week, but it also mentions that there is a pro-rata rate on less time than that.

It is all through a recruitment agency and the contract is pretty tight in their favour, so i dont know if it is worth chasing (legally), perhaps i should write it off.
If i leave them they will probably loose the work they originally hired me for as they will not be able to do the work without a mobile developer, especially as their client vetted each person who was going to be involved.
I am worried that they would then legally come after me for leaving them in the lurch, since the contract says i cannot give notice, which seems a rather unfair term.

Any thoughts - is it just because i am annoyed that i want to pursue it in court, as i would have to suggest that it is an unfair contract, a much harder battle than clear breach of contract.

Thanks

Jez

2

Dialog is the key to disputes, and having talked to the recruitment people, they say they will release me from the contract if i write off the time.

Although i feel i have lost out, i think this is the best approach and i’ll get over it.

Thanks,

jez

3

I think it is nuts that you’d hire yourself to be retained without pay, or at a pay-grade less than you’d make working the same number of hours.

What country are you in?

4

What country are you in? I can only talk about my experience of the UK employment laws. It is difficult to speak about the contract too without seeing it. There is no duty on the employer to provide work unless it is fundamental to the type of work e.g. An agency to an actor. However, you would normally have the right to be paid - even if there is no work coming in.

This is in the UK though so not sure about US/EU Law on the area.

5

I think that depends on the language used in the contract that was signed.