Q. My agency terminated my contract with no notice whatsoever, in breach (I believe) of the contract between us, and furthermore are refusing to pay any notice period, claiming “only worked days are paid”. I believe the contract requires them to give the proscribed period of notice of termination, which they did not do. As a result I am significantly out of pocket because of travel & accommodation expenses etc. The agency are now being evasive & uncommunicative (seems like they’re ignoring me in the belief/hope that I’ll give up & go away). What steps can I take to force the agency to abide by their contractual obligations?
A. Without seeing your contract we are unable to provide specific advice and this answer to your question is only generic advice. We would advise you to seek specific advice as soon as possible.
A breach of contract may give rise to rights and remedies including damages; a claim to enforce the contract by specific performance (for example to pay for time worked under the period of notice); and possible termination rights under the contract terms and at common law. Assuming the defaulting party appears to be in breach, and both the aggrieved party and the defaulting party are private companies incorporated in England and Wales and the underlying contract is subject to English law and jurisdiction such a breach may trigger contractual rights, conditional on the service of a notice to cure the breach.
The notice is drafted as a formal letter to be sent by post. The contract should be checked to see if it contains a notices clause to see whether it applies to this notice. The clause may specify the form of notice, the addressee and the delivery method. It is safest to comply exactly with the notices clause, as a non-compliant notice may not be valid. The notice must satisfy, not just the notices clause, but also any contractual requirement for a notice to remedy breach. It should also comply with any other terms applicable in a case of (suspected) breach for example a dispute resolution clause. The notice is designed for use at an early stage, in an attempt to resolve the matter before the aggrieved party considers its next step such as commencing legal proceedings. The notice should clearly identify the agreement and attach a copy. It should state its purpose particularly if a clause in the agreement requires the aggrieved party to serve the notice. The notice should give clear and concise details of each breach. It should also specify the possible consequences of breach and identify all the rights accrued under the contract. The notice must reserve all such rights, failing to identify a right at this stage could make it harder to invoke later should the aggrieved party take legal proceedings.
The answer to this question was provided by Qdos Legal Services.
Thanks for taking the time to reply… I probably should have added some additional details in the first instance, but I left details out for the sake of brevity, since it’s a fairly convoluted set of circumstances…
I’m a British citizen, but I live permanently in Norway, the contract work in question took place in Spain for a Swiss company, and the agency s also a Swiss company… I imagine that probably makes the legal situation considerably more complicated…
Surely the contract is between you and your agency? So the agency cannot avoid any involvement, and presumably have a back to back similar contract with the client. The difference of course will be that the agency will not want to invoke any claims against the client as it would lose future business, whereas you of course have no such qualms. I’d be going after the agency.