Legal Question in Business Law in California
Termination notice rights
I was an independent contractor for a pharmaceutical company. My contract states that the contractor can terminate the contract with 15 days notice, and the client can terminate the contract with 15 days notice. I gave written notice to terminate, and continued working on the project. The client wrote back saying that they waived the right to notice and were accepting my termination immediately (ie, they weren't going to pay me for 2 weeks of work). They said that the ''termination notice rights accrued to the non-terminating party''. This was not in the contract anywhere. Are they correct that, because I gave notice, I can lose the 2 weeks of contract work and pay? If so, it seems that I have no right of notice under the contract, and they have all the rights. Doesn't seem right. ;-) Are trying to pull a fast one?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Termination notice rights
You're entitled to be paid for work you did if it benefited the other party.
Re: Termination notice rights
I would make the argument that the employer must give you termination notice. Your notice said that you would quit in 15 days, not immediately. If they want to terminate you prior to that, I would argue that they can't because they didn't serve a proper notice.
In the event you requested that they waive notice, and they accepted, that's a different story.
Termination notice is generally for the benefit of the non-terminating party. However, that doesn't mean that the notice provisions become meaningless.
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