Re: Consulting & Contract Job Information Wanted

[David Demyan <concord -at- IX -dot- NETCOM -dot- COM>]

Eric, in the interest of space, I'll respond to each point in your
post in turn. -Dave

>     I'd also be interested in seeing actual
>     contracts--anyone willing to share? (Take out anything
>     confidential, of course.)

My own practice is to not require an actual paper contract between
my firm (contract house) and the contractor. The relationship is
usually a straight hire (W-2), so we feel a contract should not be
necessary (since you would not usually sign a contract to take a
permanent job with the end client, would you?)

My own prejudice is that the firms that do require their W-2
employees to sign contracts have some tricks up their sleeves and
the contract is usually all one-sided. For example, I know of one
firm that required interviewees to sign contracts (for lower wages
than verbally agreed-upon) at the doorstep of the client, just
before the interview! If the candidate would not sign (given a few
seconds to look it over before the appointment time) the headhunter
would threaten not to allow the interview. I wonder what they would do
with me because I would absolutely refuse. This particular contract
also had a strict clause that the candidate would not be allowed to
interview with or work for the company through any other contract firm
or on their own behalf.

What this all means is that the candidate should either: 1) refuse
to sign any stinkin' contracts (I've done it and gotten the jobs
anyway) or 2) rework the entire thing to protect candidate's rights,
too. Number 2 can be a considerable investment in time, and, if you
don't trust your own ability to protect yourself legally, some
lawyer's fees. My recommendation is to refuse to sign.

>     Along the same lines, do you generally use your own
>     contracts or does the contracting company supply (or
>     insist on) theirs? Many local companies have their
>     boilerplate and insist on using that. Obviously their
>     contract doesn't have much to cover my backside. Does
>     the contractor's status (person, person DBA company,
>     incorporated) have anything to do with it?

Now, before I get flamed, I must point out that it is entirely a
different scenario if you contract directly with the client. In
these cases, you need to protect yourself and make sure the scope
of the work is completely understood between parties. It pays to
spend the time or legal fees up front to protect a good direct
freelancer-to-client relationship. I have such contracts in place
with my clients, even the big firms. Typically, they spell out the
nature of the business relationship and protect the client company,
but we also get some clauses thrown in to protect ourselves (my
firm and my employees).

These types of contracts are VERY important and are ALL different.
I know of no boilerplate that exists that covers all situations.
There are some existing samples, but frankly, I never use them.
Each situation is unique and we craft on (or modify the client's)
to each.

Hope this helps.


Dave Demyan                   ***                 Mendem Concord, Inc.
(908) 753-8500                ***                   One Mountain Blvd.
concord -at- ix -dot- netcom -dot- com         ***                    Warren, NJ 07059
FAX: (908) 754-8224