Hi guys,
I was recently made redundant as a contractor. No reasons provided and no warning. I was doing really well too.
Just provided me the notice and said off you go.
What are my rights? I called up fair work, and they said can’t help me.
I would really like to know the reason for the notice so that I don’t make the same mistake (if I made any next time).
Any suggestions of what my rights are?
Thanks!
Ok so there is the problem. You're too comfortable with the pay that you were being paid. ($900-$1000/day). When you got the job a few months ago, the job market was even crazier and people were ready to pay any amount. With borders opening, slowly things are going to settle down.
You yourself seem to agree that you were being overpaid when compared with your experience. When I was 2.5 yrs into IT, I was being paid only $63k annually.
Unless you have niche skills, you are absolutely right that you won't be able to command those rates that were being paid to you.
Dude, 63k for 2.5 years of exp is underpaid. My previous company was paying 100k + bonus for Devs with 2 years experience.
@Cynicaloflife: I think this is one of the main problems with the new graduates. Go one step at a time. Taking multiple steps at once, there is a higher risk of falling.
I definitely was not a Dev and can understand from your point. I personally think 100k + bonus is a really good offer for a person who is experienced only 2.5 yrs into the job. Anything above 100k is a bonus. Having personally hired many contactors, the pay depends on the combination of niche skills and experience that you have. But imho, no matter how niche your skills are, only experience can match the level of work that you do. There are Devs who I have offered $1200/ day, and there are other Devs who I have offered as low as $400/day.
If it helps, I can refer you into a few roles depending on your job profile, good luck!
Look at who they replace you with, and you may find your answer.
They may need to raise capital and ESG scores are a bit thing now in qualifying for government grants or venture capital from private equity firms.
lol There's no such things as unfair dismissal as a contractor.
Any suggestions of what my rights are?
you will need to check your contract, or get a lawyer to check it, if they have given you the approperiate amount of notice (or paid you in lieu of notice), paid you all the money you are owe, then as far as I know there is no recourse.
unfortunately, loosing your job through no fault of your own will happen sooner or later in your working life, whether it is contract not renewed, getting made redundant, business closing down etc etc, the only thing you can do is to make sure you get paid every last cent of you legal entitlements and move on (yes I know it is easier said than done, that feeling of being wronged will be tickling your mind for a long time to come, but you will forget about it once you find another job).
The contract would have conditions. If you feel that you have been unfairly dismissed and there is a violation of the terms and conditions, then
1. Talk to the contracting house for your options ( usually the agencies contract via a contracting house)
2. Talk to a lawyer specialising in the field of employment contacts.
Unfortunately, contractors have limited options as compared to a permanent employee.
Fortunately, there are a lot of contracting opportunities if you are good.
All the best.
What are you complaining about? You're a contractor. That's the risk. Accept it and move on
Hey Op.
Sorry to hear you lost your job, you sound like your asking a reasonable question. Especially since you just want to better yourself.
You could call your main contact/boss and ask the direct question, hey xxx, so I can prevent this in the future and be better what are the three things that I need to improve.
If that person is worth anything they will give you details of what happened. If they refuse to engage, your left with two options move on with your life or fight it.
This place where you worked, did everyone operate as contractors or just yourself?
Did your contract have a fixed end date?
Did you contract with any other company at the same time?
Did you work “Full time” hours or predictable hours?
Knowing the above, you will work out if your a real contractor or if the last company are just rotting/skirting the labour laws.
Quality of comments have degraded here, not sure why.
From searching OPs comment history to saying he/she gets redundancy, lol.
Point form:
They don't need 2 weeks' notice/pay, depends on the contract but can be as little as no notice (having a few minutes to pack your belongings and being escorted from the building)
As per your post. You have already called up Fair Work and they have advised you they are unable to help.
From my understanding effectively you are treated as a business doing business with another business.
If there is one read your contract with the other business and see if there are any terms for cancelation.
If they are in breach of any terms then you might have a leg to stand upon.
If you want to prove you are in fact an employee instead of a contractor you would need to take this to court. However, I suspect you have already spoken to Fair Work about this.
https://www.fairwork.gov.au/find-help-for/independent-contra…
I sympathise with OP. Its a fair game they let you go and pay out your notice period.
But it would have been nice to give you a reason (although you are not entitled for it) for the dismissal. Consider getting a 4 week notice clause in the next contract.
More often then not it comes down to two things, finance/budget changes or politics. Either way dont beat yourself up trying to find a reason why it happened and move on to the next gig.
This article may be of interest—especially the 2nd case. TLDR: Guy was employed by a labour hire company as a "contractor", labour hire co. sent him to work for company X, guy won his court case that deemed him an employee of the labour hire company.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-12/high-court-are-you-an…
It may be red hot but I only have 2.5 years exp in IT. I can’t command those $900-$1000 rates.