No doubt contractors and their disputes with agents were far from the thoughts of the presidential candidate Barack Obama when he coined his ‘Yes we can!’ election slogan. As to whether he was influenced by watching Bob the Builder DVDs with his kids, who can say?
Sadly, the ‘Yes we can!’ slogan has also been adopted by a minority of clients and agents who are unlikely ever to win Nobel Peace Prizes. And that’s because ‘Yes we can!’ is usually the answer to the question, ‘Can we really do that to our contractors?’. As in, ‘Can we really cut our contractors rates like that?’ or ‘Can we terminate the contract today?’.
With regret, ContractorCalculator’s Contractor Doctor has had to adopt a slogan of his own: ‘Yes they can’. In recent months, most of the ‘Can they do this?’ questions asked by contractors have resulted in the answer, ‘Yes they can!’.That’s for the simple reason that contractors running their own limited companies have entered into a business-to-business relationship with their clients and agents. They are not employees and so it is commercial contract law, not employment law, that applies when it comes to contract disputes.
If your client or agent wants to terminate you early, or to cut your rates, then if the contract you signed on behalf of your business allows them to, then there is no doubt about whether they can legally do this, because, ‘Yes they can!’. So always read and negotiate your contract – the Contractor Doctor is often amazed at how many contractors don’t do that before signing. And if you really can’t be bothered to read it, then pay a specialist lawyer who understands the contractor market to check it before you sign it. It will be worth the relatively small cost in the long run.
Contracts can work both ways and commercial contract law can be your friend if your client or agent is in breach of what was agreed. Typical scenarios include trying to terminate early without paying the contractor for the contracted notice period, or insisting contractors perform tasks not in the contract. Having taken appropriate legal advice to ensure your contract works for you, contractors are able to respond, ‘No you can’t!’.
You can generally expect little or no loyalty from your agent and client, particularly if they are trying to force you to accept a rate cut on pain of immediate termination. So at that point, it might be advisable to follow another Obama campaign slogan, ‘Change We Can Believe In’. In other words, if you want your rates to move up, for example, the only option may be for you to move on.
Contractors suffering because of this ‘Yes we can!’ attitude from a small minority of clients and agents can take solace from the fact that Bob the Builder got there with ‘Yes we can!’ well before President Obama. Bob’s approach, as a contractor in the construction sector – where dispute resolution has been elevated to an art form – is refreshingly simple and optimistic, if a little naïve (but what do you expect from a children’s character?).
So let’s end this blog with Contractor Bob’s immortal words: ‘Can we fix it? Yes we can!’
Dave Chaplin is a former IT contractor in the City of London, and is founder and CEO of ContractorCalculator, and author of the Contractors' Handbook.
Started in 1999, ContractorCalculator (this site) is the leading independent website for the UK contracting industry – most of whom are highly skilled knowledge workers.
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Published: Wednesday, October 14, 2009
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