I've been contracting for 4-5 years now and here's a few tricks that have been attempted on me.

1. I agreed a rate with the agency. Got sent in for the interview. The client liked me and made me an offer. The agent calls me back and says "they liked you but the offer is $x/hr lower than what we agreed on". At which point I told him to reject it, and hung up.

He called back 20 minutes later and told me they've agreed to the original rate.

When I started I asked the client about this and they just rolled their eyes saying they would never do such a thing.

Obviously the agency was just trying to increase their margin.

2. Agent calls me up at contract renewal time saying "The client loves you, wants to offer you a contract extension but has not offered you a rate rise".

The client DID offer me a raise of 6% (and told me this)... So obviously the agency was just trying to pocket the increase.

I turned around and would not renew the contract until I got a 10% rate raise. And I ended up getting it.

So not only did they lose the 6% that they greedily tried to take, the rest of the 10% came out of their original margin.

3. When starting a new job, I was asked to come in and sign the contract at 5:00PM having only been emailed the contract at 4:30PM (after asking for the contract for 3 or so days).

Suffice to say I told them I needed more time to go through the contract.

Ended up going through another 2 days of back and forth to weed out the myriad lop sided clauses in the original contract.

Some of the dubious clauses were:

a. Lop sided notice period; The client/agency can fire me with zero notice, where as I had to provide "sufficient notice". What ever "sufficient" meant. That clauses was changed to be that both sides had to give the same notice.

b. The client can ask me to come back and rectify any work done that they deem to be "unfit for purpose" at my own expense at any time. That one was removed all together.

The thing was, the agent did not even put up a fight when I asked him to make those changes. Which I take meant he knew these clauses were just plain wrong. So why put them in there in the first place?

And all these were supposedly decent/reputable agencies.

TRUST no one when it comes to agencies.

The client can ask me to come back and rectify any work done that they deem to be "unfit for purpose" at my own expense at any time. That one was removed all together.

This can be in there to keep the tax man off your back. If you are just providing "hours" where the client bares all risk there are more limits on what you can claim as a tax deduction. If you are providing a product or service and you are responsible (financially) for the quality of that work you can claim more in the way of tax deductions.

Consult your accountant.

I was in there as a PAYG contractor at the time, but good point.

What rang alarm bells for me was that the clause was worded so it was up to the client to deem what was and was not "fit for purpose".

I just thought, what happens if I create an app for them, it goes untested and gets mothballed. After I leave, they decide they needed it after all and start testing or using it.

They can use that clause if they wished to drag me back to rectify any defects etc and not have to pay me a cent.

Im pretty sure I saw this same article here on brainbox some years ago.

Not that theres anything wrong with putting it up again.

Especially since these have been around for ages and don't seem to be going away anytime soon.

btw, getting tired of the line 'theres only a few rotten apples' amongst the recruiters. This is plain false and gets used around this site way to much.

"1. I agreed a rate with the agency. Got sent in for the interview. The client liked me and made me an offer. The agent calls me back and says "they liked you but the offer is $x/hr lower than what we agreed on". At which point I told him to reject it, and hung up.

He called back 20 minutes later and told me they've agreed to the original rate.

When I started I asked the client about this and they just rolled their eyes saying they would never do such a thing.

Obviously the agency was just trying to increase their margin."

Peoplebank once pulled this on one me. I was out of work at the time, so just signed. A few weeks after starting the client told me they hadn't, and we were both furious. They were gagged, and when I confronted the agent he just laughed at me and said "well you signed it".

3mths later when the client was really keen to extened me I asked the agent for the extra $5ph that was originally offered and agreed to, and was offered just a measly $1ph more. So I turned down the renewal and found another contract.

Check the small print for over time.

And working on weekends.

mc

What the longest contract you've done? Eight inches?

Probably closer to eight seconds - much like his/her attention span.

Leopard agree with pals UK Brownie and unemployed IT. Macca troubled not wise man.

I always insist on having a golden parachute clause in my contracts. Its fairly standard practise these days.

golden parachute clause for a contractor - what planet are you on!?!?!

Averages joes like you (Uranus) and me don't qualify for these, and probably never will. We don't have what it takes, and probably never will. A friend I worked with years ago in "the City" in London, had a golden parachute (I saw that clause in his Contract). He was an expert in Equities, working at Flemings, and pulling more money in one month, than you would make in a year. Not everyone is living in the gutter Uranus... some contractors live permanently in golden times. You either got or you haven't.

Perhaps I should insist that a "golden parachute" clause be inserted into my welfare contract.

UnemployedIT... now Rudd election victory best now apply with Labour union job. Try mining booms or trade.

Need job advise when not compete with Leopard great midnight coder ride again.

Great Leopard

I admire the golden parachute men. They and only they deserve our respect. If you haven't got a golden parachute, what does that say about you? Jealousy and bitterness will not get you anywhere. Those who have golden parachutes are the true cream of our society.

I think your getting permie and contractors mixed up.

A golden parachute clause will certainly be present in most employment agreements, but your going to be laughed at for insisting one be in a contract.

Been a contractor from the respect of a company is no different than getting an outsourcing company in.

They pay for x hours of your time and that's it. It's up to you to look after your money.

A wise move (and something that's saved my rear end once or twice) is to make sure that even during a contract your not out of the market. If something better comes up take it. If your contract is terminated for any reason your already known in the market effectively you've established the ME PTY LTD brand. I recently had my contract terminated, and once over the initial shock (Although I was prepared for it after some "special contractor only meetings") I had my next assignment worked out and I was working on that by the next business day.

I've see a company go one step further. I was given the contract on my first day, I noticed that it wasn't right and I was told we'll review that at next pay reviews.

Of course been day one I had no choice but to sign (thanks to mortgage payments due and the overwhelming desire to be able to eat) and of course at pay review time these guys had a million excuses. I found out later that this is typical of what the company does. Funny enough the company is now wondering why they are losing money and people hand over foot and why creditors are knocking at their door.

another trick I discovered once was, the contractor signs a contract with the agency, but the client stalls and stalls and never signs a contract with the agency.

The client pays without problems, and as the agency are getting their money, they go along and don't say anything.

But it means the client can pull the plug anytime, and the contractor is left to argue with the agent about being paid for any notice period the agency themselves aren't going to be paid for. And any experienced contractor will know how that one will play out.

Some contractors are just so precious, that employers will virtually pay whatever is demanded, and in cases like these, golden parachutes are the rule.

Most of us are so disposable, that the idea of other contractors receiving them, causes mental confusion...

Do yourself a favour guys, and do a Google on three words, "golden parachute" and contract. And you'll see that people on contracts do receive them. And we are NOT talking permies here!!

I know senior indispensable IT contractors who have had them, precious individuals earning a fortune, and whom management wanted to retain at ANY cost.

Obviously most people commenting here have never worked close to people are the IT royalty. Almost always (with some exceptions) these people work in an Investment Bank and are highly skilled in esoteric monetary instruments.

Reasoning = "I do not have a golden parachute, and neither do any of my mates (because I have examined their contracts), THEREFORE... no-one else in IT (who is a contractor) has a golden parachute either." That's what's called "paupers logic".

emile

"Reasoning = "I do not have a golden parachute, and neither do any of my mates (because I have examined their contracts), THEREFORE... no-one else in IT (who is a contractor) has a golden parachute either." That's what's called "paupers logic"."

what wrong with that logic, it appears to be the norm here...

I have never had a golden parachute, but have plenty of experience with golden handcuffs. For many years, golden handcuffs were the rule in Saudi Arabia. They made it so $$ tempting to just keeping rolling over your contract, that you were torn between wanting to return home, and staying in Saudi, because the bonuses just kept getting bigger every year. Back in the early 90s, I made my first million ($US) in just five years. My golden handcuffs held me there for few more years, until I left for Switzerland. Western employers still employ golden handcuffs, but rarely golden parachutes (in my experience). If you are valuable enough, you can still get handcuffed in Australia.