Is it legal for your employer. (if for instance you didnt

Hello. I am Ed, a Solicitor qualified in England and Wales with over a decade’s experience in the legal profession advising clients.

I specialise in Commercial Contracts, Business Transactions, Employment, Dispute Resolution, Personal Injury and Road Traffic Law and shall be reviewing your legal problem today.

I shall be delighted to talk with you by phone to discuss your issue in greater detail if you accept the site’s automatic offer of a Premium Service Phone Call.

I am sorry that you are facing a potential dispute with your contractor client over unpaid fees but hopefully I can assist you in resolving the matter before it escalates and you are forced to incur significant further legal costs.

As you are not an Employee or a Worker, you do not have the right to issue Proceedings in the Employment Tribunal for Unfair Dismissal. You must issue Proceedings for Breach of Contract in the County Courts for your unpaid fees.

You should send a Letter of Claim to the Client. The consumer protection advice magazine/website “Which?” has a useful template (for supplier-customer disputes) which you can adapt to your claim.

If the Client does not reply with their reasons for disputing the claim within 21 days, you should issue court proceedings via the Government’s Small Claims Track Online system. The issue fee will be no more than £410.00 for a claim worth up to £10,000.00 damages.

A party cannot normally recover solicitors’ costs on the Small Claims Track. However, it is designed for non-lawyers (known as “Litigants In Person”). The trials are relatively informal, and the judges do not expect parties to have the same legal knowledge as experienced solicitors and barristers.

I am sorry that I do not have better news for you, but I must be as honest as possible with you to advise in your best interests.

I hope this is a satisfactory initial reply to your question and you understand my recommendations. Please revert to me if you do not understand anything and require clarification of my answer and I shall be delighted to assist.

I can also offer a Premium Service Consultation for an additional fee if you need detailed and bespoke legal advice. If you accept, I will pass you my direct email address and phone number. I can review any relevant documentation and consult with you by telephone for around 20 minutes. This will give you a clearer picture of your legal position and your potential options for progressing the matter to the next stage.

Kind regards

LawyerEd

Your client is entitled not to pay you for the day you missed due to illness, but they cannot deduct any more from your fees as this is a breach of contract.