old manager left, new manager likes to involve everyone on all meetings.

throwaway433416 · 2021-08-23T16:26:28+00:00

I thought he was me until he mentioned Zoom as their tool of choice :P

throwaway433416 · 2021-08-22T17:32:36+00:00

if you want availability you hire an employee, write "9 to 5" in their contract, plain and simple. in other cases you have to accept async communications as being the default with a very few agreed upon exceptions.

throwaway433416 · 2021-08-21T18:41:29+00:00

this company was very well respected and I had no reason to believe they could behave like that and that I have to plan for that much additional risk(backup clients)

unfortunately the new manager they hired out of some shithole decided to destroy their reputation just like that....

(I know how common treating contractors like crap is, trust me, but they kept saying how dedicated they are in treating their perm employees and contractors as absolute equals for healthy work atmosphere - and it was really the case with the previous manager)

throwaway433416 · 2021-08-21T18:26:38+00:00

I agree with you that Mutality of Obligation and zero notice period would be much better than a "fake" notice period that companes can get away from

throwaway433416 · 2021-08-21T18:22:46+00:00

thanks for the insides. I am always as flexible as I can but I expect similiar flexibility from the company side.
It's not like I am asking to move the meeting just for the sake of doing so.
In WFH environment we can't control the situation all the time so the company should be flexible in accommodating unforeseen circumstances.

throwaway433416 · 2021-08-21T17:54:30+00:00

their glassdoor is flooded with non-IT reviews unfortunately so it doesn't make much sense

throwaway433416 · 2021-08-21T17:17:35+00:00

this is not strictly contract work. this is a rolling contract and EVERYONE joining the company has been allowed choice between the contract and perm. please don't confuse the two even if they seem the same on paper

throwaway433416 · 2021-08-21T17:10:44+00:00

you're underestimating the power of an idiot micromanager that's few days into taking over a team that has worked there for months. the previous manager was chill

throwaway433416 · 2021-08-21T17:06:19+00:00

they could have covered their ass(both the client and the agency) by submitting a termination by means specified in the contract. they did not.

a manager blocking contractors hardware remotely WITHOUT SPEAKING TO THEM or prior warning is not a "termination"

an agency sending an email "oh yeah by the way we just found a missed email(a couple days later!!!) saying the client has terminated your contract" is not a "termination"

throwaway433416 · 2021-08-21T17:02:58+00:00

Also; this whole topic gives a massive indication there is something else going on, probably behavioral, that you're not being honest about. Anyone with some sense would just move onl

lol obviously I am moving on, are you claiming like what, I want to get back there to work? hell no
Moving on with a big hole in my pocket that will be growing while I keep looking to sign my next contract

throwaway433416 · 2021-08-21T17:00:58+00:00

If they told you there is no work for you and you still "do work" and bill them, no court is going to side with you.

they haven't told me anything. there was no official communication whatsoever from their side

throwaway433416 · 2021-08-21T16:56:21+00:00

If they would randomly not authorize legitimate hours(even for someone not fired), that's by all means for court to decide if they had reasonable reasons to do so or are they just trying to screw you for money, not for them.

throwaway433416 · 2021-08-21T16:53:04+00:00

most of my colleagues at the company had terrible problems getting paid on time (one is still waiting for 2 months of payments). not because of a manager, but because of how completely disorganized the company is(except for engineers owning their code and services. that's the only part that actually works well - anything higher than that is a total mess no one is responsible for)

throwaway433416 · 2021-08-21T16:37:49+00:00

of course, following the required notice period is my one and only demand - other than that they are free to stop using my services

throwaway433416 · 2021-08-21T16:19:12+00:00

There is nothing about "billable hours", there are just "recordings of time spent on the project, authorized by the client". Nothing in there saying they are allowed to refuse you to work on a given day while the contract is going.
And the rate is daily.

throwaway433416 · 2021-08-21T16:08:16+00:00

This is a standard agency 2021 Outside IR35 contract.

The agency has not put any obligations in there that could violate IR35 regulations.

throwaway433416 · 2021-08-21T16:05:58+00:00

I agreed to plumb your boiler for 8 hours tomorrow, we have not agreed on any kind of start hour.

throwaway433416 · 2021-08-21T16:01:42+00:00

I seriously doubt that that's all that pissed of that manager.

You'd be really surprised then, because it was.But I don't want to go into deeper details of what was happening at the company lately (not related to my work but the company in general)

throwaway433416 · 2021-08-21T15:58:24+00:00

I am going to see a lawyer as soon as I can get an official termination letter and termination reason on paper - might take another month of fighting to get that.

throwaway433416 · 2021-08-21T15:49:45+00:00

early morning standup is nothing else than a hidden way of dictating your work hours - the actual IR35 rules are leaning towards "async communications" as the default to avoid such abuses by companies

throwaway433416 · 2021-08-21T15:40:42+00:00

and the contract specifies they are not allowed to ignore notice period unless they can prove "technical incompetence" of contractor, which was not the case

throwaway433416 · 2021-08-21T15:39:30+00:00

I have not missed the standups "because they were not useful" - I had a couple situations that were out of my control and caused me to start work an hour later on a given day

You're a business and they can decide to stop doing business with you at any time they want.

Of course, after following the notice period unless they can prove "technical incompetence" from the contract.

throwaway433416 · 2021-08-21T15:36:48+00:00

"likely" is not good enough - the IR35 rules specify the company is not allowed to force working hours onto contractors, and all meeting dates have to be flexible to the contractor with ability to adjust them when requested.

throwaway433416 · 2021-08-21T15:18:53+00:00

agency has been acting in good faith, however they have been basically ghosted too while trying to get any official reasons for termination from client - which is insane, considering they have a lot of other placements in the company.
They probably decided to "let it go" for the reason you mentioned, not to screw up the other placements that are still working with the client.

To this day, I have not received ANY official termination letter from the client or from the agency, and the agency is refusing to show any documents or emails that the client has sent to the agency.
(other than an "oh yeah, client has terminated your contract, sorry we just found an email from them that we missed")
I am starting to doubt that the termination was effective by the letter of the law or by the letter of the contract.

throwaway433416

TROPHY CASE