Hourly Contract

[ard1997x]

Hi there,

I started an hourly contract with my client and we agreed to work full time hourly and I will get paid only for 6 hours of my weekly limit and won't get paid for beyond that.  I will track time and for example: I will work 40 hours per week but will get paid only for my 6 hours as we both agreed upon.

Is this allowed?

[martina_plaschka]

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Ardi D wrote:

Hi there,

I started an hourly contract with my client and we agreed to work full time hourly and I will get paid only for 6 hours of my weekly limit and won't get paid for beyond that.  I will track time and for example: I will work 40 hours per week but will get paid only for my 6 hours as we both agreed upon.

Is this allowed?

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 Why should it not be allowed? I don't see anything illegal in this kind of arrangement.

Would I do it? Heck no. 

[petra_r]

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Ardi D wrote:

I started an hourly contract with my client and we agreed to work full time hourly and I will get paid only for 6 hours of my weekly limit and won't get paid for beyond that.  I will track time and for example: I will work 40 hours per week but will get paid only for my 6 hours as we both agreed upon.

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Why in the world would you agree to something like that?

[ard1997x]

Because It is a long term salary job and We thought that the best way is to do this kind of agreement.

[pudingstudio]

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Ardi D wrote:

Because It is a long term salary job and We thought that the best way is to do this kind of agreement.

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Yet, only after you've agreed to the terms, you're asking if it's allowed.

Presumably, in a week or so you'll be sending grievances about a client who is not willing to pay for your time.

But yes, as Martina P answered, it is allowed.

[petra_r]

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Ardi D wrote:

Because It is a long term salary job and We thought that the best way is to do this kind of agreement.

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So you will have the opportunity to work lots at a tiny fraction of your hourly rate?

The other way would be to set up an hourly contract with a weekly salary of $ 150 (6 hours at your profile rate) and the weekly limit set to 0

That would be the neatest way to do it, if you are dead set on doing it.

[dsmgdesign]

"Clients can't ask for free work" is something I've heard on Upwork, but apparently it only applies to asking for free work before hiring a freelancer (as in they can't ask freelancers to do free work as part of the interview process as a "test" to determine which freelancer they would like to hire)...so that is NOT allowed, but whatever agreement you make with client as a condition of hiring you (including offering some of your work for free, and some of it paid) IS allowed. What's the logic with allowing one but not the other? I have no idea, as it seems that Upwork is losing money in both scenarios. 

[petra_r]

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David S M wrote:

"Clients can't ask for free work" is something I've heard on Upwork, but apparently it only applies to asking for free work before hiring a freelancer (as in they can't ask freelancers to do free work as part of the interview process as a "test" to determine which freelancer they would like to hire)...so that is NOT allowed, but whatever agreement you make with client as a condition of hiring you (including offering some of your work for free, and some of it paid) IS allowed. What's the logic with allowing one but not the other?

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This is not "free work" - as such - it's a way for him to be able to accept a contract that wats to pay $ 3.75 an hour (above the minimum rate of $ 3.00) for a 40 hour week without it saying so on his profile.

The "weekly salary on an hourly contract at $ 25/ hour with a 0 hour limit" option would take care of that as well without the seemingly free work.

At any rate, clients aren't supposed to ask for free works, but it is not a policy violation for a freelancer to do free work or offer it.

[pudingstudio]

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Petra R wrote:

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David S M wrote:

"Clients can't ask for free work" is something I've heard on Upwork, but apparently it only applies to asking for free work before hiring a freelancer (as in they can't ask freelancers to do free work as part of the interview process as a "test" to determine which freelancer they would like to hire)...so that is NOT allowed, but whatever agreement you make with client as a condition of hiring you (including offering some of your work for free, and some of it paid) IS allowed. What's the logic with allowing one but not the other?

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This is not "free work" - as such - it's a way for him to be able to accept a contract that wats to pay $ 3.75 an hour (above the minimum rate of $ 3.00) for a 40 hour week without it saying so on his profile.

The "weekly salary on an hourly contract at $ 25/ hour with a 0 hour limit" option would take care of that as well without the seemingly free work.

At any rate, clients aren't supposed to ask for free works, but it is not a policy violation for a freelancer to do free work or offer it.

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But.. It is not allowed for a client to request it? It's more than 'clients aren't supposed to'?

Was always under impression that TOS says it is not allowed.

I am NOT familiar with legal terms, so might be wrong:

'4.1 EXAMPLES OF PROHIBITED USES OF THE SITE'

'Requesting or demanding free services, including requesting Freelancers to submit work as part of the proposal process for very little or no money or posting contests in which Freelancers submit work with no or very little pay, and only the winning submission is paid the full amount'

[lysis10]

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Ardi D wrote:

Hi there,

I started an hourly contract with my client and we agreed to work full time hourly and I will get paid only for 6 hours of my weekly limit and won't get paid for beyond that.  I will track time and for example: I will work 40 hours per week but will get paid only for my 6 hours as we both agreed upon.

Is this allowed?

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lol so basically, you agreed to something and now you don't like it so you want to throw it on Upwork to protect you? lolololololol

Is there something in the water that makes freelancers genetically predisposed to lose the term "no" from their vocabulary?

[prestonhunter]

This is a scheme.

Schemes designed to circumvent how Upwork is meant to be used do not work out well in the end for freelancers.

Obviously Upwork can not help users with schemes.

If the normal way to use hourly contracts really will not be acceptable for you and the client on this project, then you should choose one of these options:

a) use fixed-price contracts

b) don’t work together

[petra_r · Accepted solution]

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Preston H wrote:

This is a scheme.

Schemes designed to circumvent how Upwork is meant to be used do not work out well in the end for freelancers.

Obviously Upwork can not help users with schemes.

If the normal way to use hourly contracts really will not be acceptable for you and the client on this project, then you should choose one of these options:

a) use fixed-price contracts

b) don’t work together

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Or set up an hourly contract with a weekly salary of $ 150 (6 hours at your profile rate) and the weekly limit set to 0

I don't know where this talk of "free work" and "schemes" come from.

The freelancer wants the job because it is ongoing income. The client wants to hire him at $ 3.75 an hour.

The freelancer, understandably, does not want a $ 3.75 an hour job showing on his profile.

No violation of the terms, just some inventive thinking.

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Antun M wrote:

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At any rate, clients aren't supposed  allowed to ask for free works, but it is not a policy violation for a freelancer to do free work or offer it.

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But.. It is not allowed for a client to request it? It's more than 'clients aren't supposed to'?

Was always under impression that TOS says it is not allowed.

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It's not allowed and this isn't what I think is happening here at all.

I don't think the client requested free work at all. I think we have a client and a freelancer wanting the same thing (a full time job at $ 150 a week, and they are just struggling to find a way that allows for that to happen without looking terrible on the freelancer's profile.

[ard1997x]

I don't know either how people got from agreed contract to free work and yes the situation was exactly how you explained. Thank you very much, I just wanted to know if this is allowed on upwork and that's it.

[kat303]

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Ardi D wrote:

Hi there,

I started an hourly contract with my client and we agreed to work full time hourly and I will get paid only for 6 hours of my weekly limit and won't get paid for beyond that.  I will track time and for example: I will work 40 hours per week but will get paid only for my 6 hours as we both agreed upon.

Is this allowed?

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It just amazes me why anyone would want to work 40 hours a week but only get paid for 6 hours. What about the rest of the 36 hours. Do you enjoy working 36 hours for nothing? You asked if that's allowed. Sure, it's also allowed if you decide on your own to work for free (which is almost what you will be doing) and it's probably allowed if a freelancer wants to pay a client for the privilege to work for them. 

[petra_r]

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Kathy T wrote:

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It just amazes me why anyone would want to work 40 hours a week but only get paid for 6 hours.

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He is not being "only paid for 6 hours". He agreed to a rate of $ 3.75 an hour which he considers to be beneficial to him. Probably because in his local economy it's a reasonable income and a guaranteed $ 150 a week is more than most people in his environment work a lot harder for.

He wants to accept the rate he agreed with his client for ongoing / "guaranteed" work without having to explain the $ 3.75 an hour job on his profile to other clients.

It would not be for me or for you, but we are not him and we do not live in his world.

Kathy, the average monthly salary in Kosovo is 364 Euros ($400). Per MONTH. So if he wants to accept a job at considerably more ($ 585 a month after Upwork fees or 47% more than the average wage), no matter what you and I think about that amount of money, that is his business and his business alone.

[ard1997x]

Well, I have worked with clients who paid me hourly for the amount of work I did but most of them usually ended up being short term jobs so working more hours for long term jobs is worth it, at least until I gain long term clients who will pay me higher rates.

[dsmgdesign]

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Ardi D wrote:

Well, I have worked with clients who paid me hourly for the amount of work I did but most of them usually ended up being short term jobs so working more hours for long term jobs is worth it, at least until I gain long term clients who will pay me higher rates.

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Good for you, Ardi!! As long as you want this job, and you don't have a problem with it, you are doing nothing wrong as far as Upwork is concerned. You don't need to justify yourself to anyone on this forum.