Stopping an Unethical/Illegal Contract & Impact on Job Success Score

[willstafford]

I accepted a contract today that I now believe to be unethical and illegal in its request. After looking into the nature of the request more and being presented with more information than I was given at first, I wish to cancel this contract and refund the client of the small payment that was put into escrow.

My main question is this. Will cancelling this contract and refunding the client negatively affect my future Job Success Score in any way? Being a new Upwork user and looking for positive reviews of my work, I do not want to be penalized for not completing something I now know to be an illegal request. I just completed my first contract (different client and job post) with a 5-star review, so I'm looking to build my profile from there, not tear it down and negatively impact my score with a contract I now know to be unethical/illegal.

I have also submitted a request with the Upwork Help Center, but I also wanted to ask my questions here too as I don't know how long it usually takes to receive a response from the Help Center.

Thanks to anyone who can provide insight about this situation.

[martina_plaschka]

Yes, a contract with no money paid, cancelled or otherwise ended, does hurt your future JSS. You can either agree with the client to provide some work on it (the not illegal part) and receive some payment, or take the hit and chalk it up to your inexperience that you accepted an offer before you were fully aware of the task. If you get some great feedback before you even get a JSS, from other jobs, it will not be too bad, and you will recover. 

[wlyonsatl]

Will you complete work on an unethical/illegal project if you find out it could negatively affect your JSS?

If not, then your dilemma is resolved.

If so, then you might eventually find that doing things that are illegal will create far bigger problems for you than a drop in your JSS.

[willstafford]

Thanks to those of you who have taken the time to reply. I'm certainly not going to continue with this project. That's a given. My conscience and personal ethics wouldn't allow me to do so. My question is more about how it would affect my JSS, which is really my secondary concern here.

I'm sure the Upwork Help Center will provide some clarification as well, and I'll post any update here as I receive it.

[martina_plaschka]

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Will S wrote:

Thanks to those of you who have taken the time to reply. I'm certainly not going to continue with this project. That's a given. My conscience and personal ethics wouldn't allow me to do so. My question is more about how it would affect my JSS, which is really my secondary concern here.

I'm sure the Upwork Help Center will provide some clarification as well, and I'll post any update here as I receive it.

---

You can't expect upwork to have a position on the legality of a task. (They really dislike anything that's against ToS, though) It is your responsibilty to assess a job before you accept an offer it in order to avoid headaches such as this. I would be surprised if you receive anything than a generic reply on this. 

[willstafford]

This is the exact reply I received a few minutes ago from the Upwork Help Center. So, it sounds like it will work out for me from a JSS standpoint in this instance, but is a learning experience as I do gain more experience using the platform.

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

[wlyonsatl]

Please do come back to this board to let us know how this worked out for you.

[willstafford]

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Will L wrote:
Please do come back to this board to let us know how this worked out for you.

---

I certainly will post an update when available.

[acgpakistan]

In my personal experience it also depends on the nature of the "illegal part", if it violates the Terms of Service for UW it can further lead to suspension of the client's account and I believe in that case it will not hurt your JSS.

[prestonhunter]

Well, it is important to remember that everything is illegal or unethical somewhere.

So a job being "unethical or illegal" is not really the standard that Upwork can use to do something.

I absolutely support freelancers in their desire to maintain their personal beliefs and ethical standards. But some things that are illegal where you live are perfectly legal where I live. And some things that you do and don't think it's a big deal are completely prohibited for me.

What is important is whether something violates Upwork ToS.

[willstafford]

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Preston H wrote:

Well, it is important to remember that everything is illegal or ethical somewhere.

So a job being "unethical or illegal" is not really the standard that Upwork can use to do something.

I absolutely support freelancers in their desire to maintain their personal beliefs and ethical standards. But some things that are illegal where you live are perfectly legal where I live. And some things that you do and don't think it's a big deal are completely prohibited for me.

What is important is whether something violates Upwork ToS.

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It has been indicated to me through the Upwork Help Center that this does, in fact, violoate Upwork's TOS and I've been instructed to stop working on the contract. In this case, it is a U.S.-based client accepting only U.S.-based freelancers, so it appears to be pretty straightforward from a TOS standpoint.

[prestonhunter]

re: "It has been indicated to me through the Upwork Help Center that this does, in fact, violoate Upwork's TOS"

That's what makes a huge difference from Upwork's perspective.

The violation of Upwork ToS.

For example:

Getting paid off-platform is a HUGE VIOLATION of Upwork ToS. If a client is offering to do that, Upwork is going to take that very seriously an may remove a client completely from the platform, and void a contract, etc.

But getting paid off platform is certainly not "illegal" or "unethical." Outside of Upwork, there's nothing wrong with paying somebody with a check or cash. While using Upwork, it's VERY wrong.

[gilbert-phyllis]

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Preston H wrote:

re: "It has been indicated to me through the Upwork Help Center that this does, in fact, violoate Upwork's TOS"

That's what makes a huge difference from Upwork's perspective.

The violation of Upwork ToS.

For example:

Getting paid off-platform is a HUGE VIOLATION of Upwork ToS. If a client is offering to do that, Upwork is going to take that very seriously an may remove a client completely from the platform, and void a contract, etc.

But getting paid off platform is certainly not "illegal" or "unethical." Outside of Upwork, there's nothing wrong with paying somebody with a check or cash. While using Upwork, it's VERY wrong.

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The concept of "getting paid off platform" has no meaning unless one is in a position to get paid on platform. In which case it absolutely is neither ethical nor legal.

[colettelewis]

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Will S wrote:

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Preston H wrote:

Well, it is important to remember that everything is illegal or ethical somewhere.

So a job being "unethical or illegal" is not really the standard that Upwork can use to do something.

I absolutely support freelancers in their desire to maintain their personal beliefs and ethical standards. But some things that are illegal where you live are perfectly legal where I live. And some things that you do and don't think it's a big deal are completely prohibited for me.

What is important is whether something violates Upwork ToS.

---

It has been indicated to me through the Upwork Help Center that this does, in fact, violoate Upwork's TOS and I've been instructed to stop working on the contract. In this case, it is a U.S.-based client accepting only U.S.-based freelancers, so it appears to be pretty straightforward from a TOS standpoint.

---

_______________________

Will,

If the client has violated the ToS and CS have taken steps to either suspend his account or terminate the job, then your JSS should not be affected. However, if it is a fixed-price contract and money has been paid into escrow, do not cancel it until you hear more from CS about the next step. I have flagged your post in the hope that a mod will intervene further. 

[willstafford]

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Nichola L wrote:

Will,

If the client has violated the ToS and CS have taken steps to either suspend his account or terminate the job, then your JSS should not be affected. However, if it is a fixed-price contract and money has been paid into escrow, do not cancel it until you hear more from CS about the next step. I have flagged your post in the hope that a mod will intervene further. 

---

Nichola,

Thanks for your response! I have kept this contract open while stopping work on it, as instructed by **Edited for community guidelines** with the Upwork Help Center. I'm just leaving it as is since that is what **Edited for community guidelines** instructed me to do. He also said that he has forwarded all of the information to the Upwork Marketplace Quality Team for final resolution on this matter and that they are "pleased to help" me get out of this contract. It is a fixed-price contract with money currently in escrow, so I'm not touching it for now until I do receive further instruction. 

Thanks for flagging my concern here in the post. I also look forward to seeing how an Upwork mod can help further.

Thanks again!

Will

[BojanS]

Hi Will,

Our team will be reviewing the information you've provided via this ticket and update you once they do have more information about it.  We'll also follow up with them about it. Please, expect an update via the ticket. Thank you.

[willstafford]

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Bojan S wrote:

Hi Will,

Our team will be reviewing the information you've provided via the ticket and update you once they do have more information about it.  We'll also follow up with them about it. Please, expect an update via the ticket. Thank you.

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Bojan,

Thank you for the update. I'll keep an eye out there for any updates.

Will

[wlyonsatl]

Wow. Someone actually thinks keeping Upwork happy is more important than
worrying about personal ethics or the legality of an action.

Very interesting.

[willstafford]

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Will L wrote:
Wow. Someone actually thinks keeping Upwork happy is more important than
worrying about personal ethics or the legality of an action.

Very interesting.

---

Hope that is not directed at me because that's not at all how I feel about this. I won't continue with this no matter its impact on my JSS or anything else.

[prestonhunter]

re: "Someone actually thinks keeping Upwork happy is more important than worrying about personal ethics or the legality of an action."

It's not clear what you are referring to. Neither the original poster nor any other participants in this thread have said anything along those lines.

[wlyonsatl]

Preston wrote:

"Well, it is important to remember that everything is illegal or unethical somewhere.

So a job being "unethical or illegal" is not really the standard that Upwork can use to do something.

I absolutely support freelancers in their desire to maintain their personal beliefs and ethical standards. But some things that are illegal where you live are perfectly legal where I live. And some things that you do and don't think it's a big deal are completely prohibited for me.

What is important is whether something violates Upwork ToS."

I wrote:

"Wow. Someone actually thinks keeping Upwork happy is more important than
worrying about personal ethics or the legality of an action."

Now I am writing:

"While it is important for a freelancer to determine the ethical and legal elements of a project before agreeing to a contract, that isn't always possible. Only a fool would ignore the ethics and, especially, legality of new information about a project at any point during the project."

[prestonhunter]

Will, thank you for your clarification about your post.

Yes, we are in agreement about all of this.

It is not always possible to understand everything about a contract before applying or even starting work.

Of course ethical and legal considerations are of paramount importance at all points of time during work on a contract. Even though such considerations are probably not actionable by Upwork.

I can see how my comments about Upwork TOS could be confusing if not considered in their intended context.

So to be clear: legal and ethical considerations should be foremost in guiding a freelancer's decisions, but we can't hold Upwork to our local or personal rules and ethics and we cannot expect Upwork to censure clients or offer us special JSS treatment relating to cancelling contracts based in our local or personal rules. Exporting baby formula, consumption of pork, selling chewing gum, providing plastic drinking straws, using certain curse words, and depicting religious symbols in artwork, criticizing certain political leaders or members of royalty.... All of these things and more ARE illegal... Somewhere. Many more things are unethical or prohibited under various estaished religious guidelines or other belief systems. But for all this, we need to act on our own and make correct decisions for ourselves. We can't ask the rest of Upwork to adhere to our local laws and personal ethics. Even when we are obviously correct in our beliefs. The guiding standard by which Upwork can actually operate is Upwork TOS.

[willstafford]

Just a final update on this.

I spoke with Cheryl with Upwork's customer support team and all has been resolved. Upwork agreed that this contract went against its TOS and the job contract was cancelled and removed from my profile with no further penalty or negative feedback to me. All in all, Upwork received my inquiry, acted quickly, and resolved this matter in right around 24 hours.

Thanks again for everyone contributing to my post and providing me further information. I hope you all have a great weekend.

[wlyonsatl]

That's great! I'm glad to hear standing up for yourself worked out so well.