Question about contracting?

[Geoff Hart <ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca>]

Felice Albala wondered: <<I recently started a contract for which my 
skills matched the job descrip perfectly. I now see that the job 
descrip was inaccurate and this job requires skills I don't have. If I 
quit or get fired I must pay my vendor the equivalent of 80 hours to 
offset his loss of face with the client.>>

Ouch! I hope your contract doesn't specify this last condition; if it 
does, find another vendor once you get out of the current situation. 
They're imposing a ridiculous contract condition that no contractor 
should ever have to put up with. On the face of completely inadequate 
information, it sure seems like they set out to exploit you, but I'd 
never act on that basis without being awfully sure of it. Speaking of 
which:

The first thing is to sit down with the client and explain the 
situation. If you're willing and able to acquire the necessary skills 
and they're willing to give you time to learn them on the job, there's 
no problem. First, see if you can get a look at the job requirements 
they sent to the vendor. Try to avoid explaining why you're asking if 
you can avoid doing so, but if you can't, be honest. A good client will 
understand the situation and help you through it.

If the vendor knowingly altered the client's requirements in an attempt 
to hire a less-skilled worker (you) at a lowball price, then they acted 
fraudulently and misrepresented the situation to you in the contract. A 
good lawyer would nail them for this in court. Although your "vendor" 
does have the right to protect their "face", any vendor who acts in 
this manner deserves to have their face ripped off--not just lost.

The only way to find out the true situation is to talk to the client. 
If they honestly communicated the client's requirements, then the 
client is the one who misrepresented their requirements and needs to 
fix the problem.

--Geoff Hart   ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca
(try geoffhart -at- mac -dot- com if you don't get a reply)


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