I've been working at a place as a consultant for just over 3 years... I signed a contract but was never sent a copy... A month ago they told me (verbally, nothing ever in writing) that there wasn't enough work for me anymore and gave me my "standard notice, whatever that is". Which turned out to be 4 weeks in their eyes.
After my notice period was over I thought to ask for a copy of the contract.
Besides all the usual stuff about them owning me and my first born it clearly states that the contract only lasts for a maximum of 3 months unless already agreed.
There has never been any written agreement about extending the contract... Nor any verbal agreement... We've both just carried on regardless...
This now leaves me with more questions than I have answers for.
Where does this leave me from a legal point of view? Do the terms of the contract still stand? There's no notice period in the contract at all, just terms for termination on breach of contract.
As this was a programming job and the contract is full of clauses about them owning all IP rights... but was never formally extended in any way, does that mean that I own the IP for those years?
As this is in the UK, by contracting at a place for such a long time... and apparently now without a contract... Did I then start to become an employee?