Unreasonable suspension of freelancer (and freelancer's agency) by Upwork

[1d6cb407]

I have had an extremely frustrating experience dealing with Upwork regarding a freelancer who I would like to hire. The freelancer's account was suspended after Upwork claimed that the freelancer breached the Upwork Terms of Service by uploading a false identification. However, I have met the freelancer in person and have seen the ID that he uploaded to Upwork and have verified that the ID is authentic.

I have complained to Upwork about this and so has the freelancer but Upwork keeps on providing us with the same response stating that "Our decision is final". The freelancer has many positive ratings on Upwork and has spent over 3000 of hours building up its profile and reputation on Upwork. It completed 99 jobs and has been a member since 2004. The agency that the freelancer is owner of has also been suspended as part of this - that agency has spent over 11,000 hours on Upwork.

It's completely unreasonable for Upwork to conduct itself in this manner. It is destroying a freelancer's business through no fault of the freelancer at all.

The profile in question is **Edited for Community Guidelines** and the agency is **Edited for Community Guidelines** .

The last email I received from Upwork states:

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

[lysis10]

He showed you his ID? Interesting.

[1d6cb407]

Yes, he did. I also sent it to Upwork and they just ignored me.

[versailles]

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Jennifer M wrote:

He showed you his ID? Interesting.

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Stop it! They are not related in any way. This is not the actual suspended freelancer who is posing for their own client.

You have such a twisted mind.

[wordpress01]

Thank you for all

[g_vasilevski]

Hi Alan,

I`m sorry about the inconvenience this had caused you. 

Unfortunately we can't share details for another user with. The freelancer can refer to the information shared with them on their tickets. Thank you.

[1d6cb407]

Hi Goran, no need for you to share the details of the other user because the user has already shared it with me. I have travelled all the way from Australia to India to meet the freelancer, so this is very frustrating for me.

The freelancer has also shared the information on their ticket with me. Upwork just says on the ticket to them that the freelancer has breached the Terms of Service but without explaining why at all.

[1d6cb407]

Attached is the message I received from Upwork. So unreasonable!

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

[g_vasilevski]

Hi Alan,

I just sent you a PM with more details. You can access your PMs by clicking on the envelope icon at the top right corner. Thank you.

[prestonhunter]

So here's what I'm wondering (and this has nothing to do with the original poster's situation, of course):

If a client wants to hire a freelancer who was FORMERLY an Upwork freelancer... but who has been suspended and had his account terminated... and thus removed from the platform...

Why wouldn't the client simply hire that freelancer directly?

What risk would there be to such a freelancer?

I don't think Upwork can "double-terminate" a freelancer.

And I don't think it is Upwork's intention that a terminated freelancer be prevented from ever earning money by working for anybody else ever again in the future.

Is a former Upwork freelancer - a person who is now no longer and Upwork user - bound to continue abiding by Upwork's ToS rules, such as only handling contracts through Upwork, for the rest of his life?

Of course we all know that Upwork does not require freelancers (former or otherwise) to be paid through the Upwork platform if they did not meet a client through Upwork. But what if a client is aware that freelancer was previously on the Upwork platform, and has now been permanently removed from the platform? What then?

A related (but not identical) question was discussed in this thread:

Can I hire a suspended Upwork Freelancer?

[mtngigi]

"Why wouldn't the client simply hire that freelancer directly?"

Why indeed ... it would certainly be a lot cheaper than flying from Australia to India.

[prestonhunter]

re: "it would certainly be a lot cheaper than flying from Australia to India."

Maybe he booked a flight of fancy.