Independent Contractor Situation

[independent]

What is the name of your state? CA

I'm an independent contractor working for a VA firm. I need to know if withholding payment to me because one of their clients refused to pay them is legal. My contract is with them, and I have no control over the billing, collections, etc.

I put in many hours of work for a client that is now refusing to pay them. Does this mean I don't get paid and is that legal for them to do?

Thanks in advance for any help.

I have to add that when I first started work with this client, I warned them that there were some issues he had with the person previously doing the work I was doing, and although I didn't know the full story, I made my VA company aware, and was told to proceed anyway.

 

[independent]

Can you help?

Anyone? I really need to know what to do here.

 

[divgradcurl]

Anyone? I really need to know what to do here.

What does your consulting contract say about billings and payments, if anything?

If your contract is silent, then most likely they are not in the right to withold payments to you, and if they continue to do so, you can sue them for the payments.

 

[independent]

I just looked it over and it does say I get paid after they get paid. I just wonder how enforcable that is if I have no control over who the client is, or billing/collections of the time I spent. I am not able to check the clients references, take deposits, etc. I had also warned them that his last web person had pulled the plug on the site she did but was told to proceed anyway. I contract to them, not to the client.

Now another interesting twist - this non paying client of theirs apparently had some other people from the same firm working. I do website work, the others were doing general admin type things. The owner of the company I'm contracted with told the non-paying client that if he would pay the bill for the other contractors, she would "let" me continue doing the work I was doing. So, in essence, my work is going to get the other people paid, and give me the added time of working that I may never get paid for.

 

[divgradcurl]

I just looked it over and it does say I get paid after they get paid. I just wonder how enforcable that is if I have no control over who the client is, or billing/collections of the time I spent.

Well, presumably you read the contract and agreed to it, so it may very well be enforceable. U.S. common law provides broad rights of contract, the court may very well assume that you knew of the risks and accepted them, and that your pay was commensurate with the risks involved. But the only way to know if the contract is really enforceable is to sue your employer and see what the courts say.

Now another interesting twist - this non paying client of theirs apparently had some other people from the same firm working. I do website work, the others were doing general admin type things. The owner of the company I'm contracted with told the non-paying client that if he would pay the bill for the other contractors, she would "let" me continue doing the work I was doing. So, in essence, my work is going to get the other people paid, and give me the added time of working that I may never get paid for.

Then why are you still doing the work? There is nothing here that jumps out as illegal -- being a bad businessperson or taking advantage of a contractor is perhaps unethical, but not illegal in most cases -- but if they are going to take advantage of you like that, you should try and use whatever leverage you might have to force some money out of them, and not take this lying down.

Depending on the amount of money involved, it might be worth getting a lawyer involved.

 

[independent]

I very much appreciate your answers, thank you. I'm NOT doing any more work, so far this client hasn't paid so the owner hasn't asked me to. I was just copied in on the promises she made him..all without any advance knowledge on my side. I don't intend to do any more unless something is paid anyway, just didn't know what other rights I might have. It's not a HUGE amount of money, but more than a full week of work, so its a hit to my budget, especially since this client had to have things done quickly so I set other jobs aside.

I'm not in "sue" mode, but it helps to know my rights so I know how to approach all this when dealing with the people I'm contracting with. Thanks again.