Payment for hours worked rather than finished project.

[hmallett]

I've been working with a client who was always trustworthy, but now I've come to a sticky situation. They hired me to do a video a while back which I completed and was paid, all sorted.

A new project arose and I got to work without having secured the official "contract" on upwork's system, even though in the messages they have agreed to it all in writing. 

Upon receiving my work they wanted me to tweak more than what I would consider reasonable, and would have pushed me below legal minimum wage. When I said what I would do and what I couldn't do without more budget they said they'd go in house and have not replied to my request to be paid for my time.

I realise I messed up, by not going down the proper avenue until it was too late, but do I still have any legal protection under Upwork to be paid even for the time I spent on the project? If this was a non-upwork piece I would be using their emails back and forth to claim payment, as I have it in writing that they'd pay me. 

All I want is to be paid minimum wage for the time I spent on a project with a client who ended up being a nightmare.

Can anyone assist?

Cheers,

H

[prestonhunter]

This is freelancing.

There is no "minimum wage."

If you are hired using an hourly contract, then the minimum allowed rate is $3/hour.

If you are hired using a fixed-price contract, the minimum allowed contract amount is $5.00.

The amount of time spent working is not a factor in fixed-price contracts.

re: "A new project arose and I got to work without having secured the official 'contract' on upwork's system, even though in the messages they have agreed to it all in writing"

Messages don't count.

If you worked with no official contract, that is your mistake. Next time, don't do that.

re: "do I still have any legal protection under Upwork to be paid even for the time I spent on the project?"

You have zero protection. You are allowed to ask the client to pay you using a bonus payment. But I strongly advise you to let this go. The client already indicated that she does want to pay you more money. Upwork will not help you with this.