Re: Cutting a contract short

["Gene Kim-Eng" <techwr -at- genek -dot- com>]

There are three separate issues you need to address in this situation.

1.  What are you obligated by contract to do?  If you are working
     W2 as an agency employee, you have no contract obligations
     with regard to notice that can be enforced in most states (but
     check yours).  If you are 1099 and carrying your own contract,
     you are a vendor and different rules apply.  Depending on the
     terms of your contract, you can be required to give a specific
     notice (30 days seems to be the most frequent), or you may
     be subject to legal consequences in the form of penalties the
     can pursue in court.

2.  What are the potential effects on your future prospects?  You
    may be working in multiple fields or in a field where there is
    little or no contact between different companies.  Or you may
    be working in a small, close-knit field where any prospective
    employer or client can bypass the HR or Purchasing depts of
    any company on your resume by picking up a phone and calling
    a golfing buddy.  Do you have lots of other references (not
    necessarily local) you can fall back on in the event this company
    and agency become ugly on you?

3.  What will the effect be on your personal self-image?  Can you
    say, "they'd walk me out the door today if they needed to shave
    a few thousand off this quarter's bottom line, I'm looking out
    for my interests," and walk away?  Or will you spend the next
    five years fretting over having "failed to keep a commitment,"
    and break into a nervous sweat whenever you need to look a
    prospective employer/client in the eye and say that you can be
    relied upon to finish what you start?

You can obtain legal guidance for #1, but for #2 and #3 you're
pretty much on your own.  I can't even tell you which of these
you should consider the most important.

Gene Kim-Eng


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