(In fact ExpertLandscaping look like a far more customer focused operation to judge by the comments on the expertlandscaping.ie web site – well done – I may be in touch for a bit of decking.)

I am happy to point out that this is just a commentary on our public representative (elected in 2004 with a whopping 918 votes, all of 39% of the quota – nice one South Dublin, let’s see if you can do better in June ‘09) and is not in any way a commentary on expertlandscaping.ie.

Thanks for the comments and interest in GoAskMeBollix.

None of your comments surprise me (much to my disappointment). Unfortunately there is so little understood about IT in general that incompetent and unscrupulous providers can pretty much get away with murder when it comes to their clients (and employees).

For your information there are very strict guidelines that the Irish Revenue Commissioners use to decide whether or not you were employed or acting as a freelancer. Call them up (or check http://www.revenue.ie) and they will tell you. You’ll be surprised to learn how restrictive their criterion are and I would bet my hairy left one that the Revenue would regard you as having been employed by 4u.ie. If that is the case then the payment of PAYE and PRSI would have been a matter for your employer and the Revenue Commissioners would be very interested in your tale.
From my brief trawl of http://www.revenue.ie/leaflets/code-of-practice-on-employment-status.pdf any ONE of the following conditions would qualify you as an employee and NOT a freelancer:

An individual would normally be an employee if he or she:

– Is under the control of another person who directs as to how, when and where the work is to be carried out.
– Supplies labour only.
– Receives a fixed hourly/weekly/monthly wage.
– Cannot sub-contract the work. If the work can be subcontracted and paid on by the person subcontracting the work, the employer/employee relationship may simply be transferred on.
– Does not supply materials for the job.
– Does not provide equipment other than the small tools of the trade. The provision of tools or equipment might not have a significant bearing on coming to a conclusion that employment status may be appropriate having regard to all the circumstances of a particular case.
– Is not exposed to personal financial risk in carrying out the work.
– Does not assume any responsibility for investment and management in the business.
– Does not have the opportunity to profit from sound management in the scheduling of engagements or in the performance of tasks arising from the engagements.
– Works set hours or a given number of hours per week or month.
– Works for one person or for one business.
– Receives expense payments to cover subsistence and/or travel expenses.
– Is entitled to extra pay or time off for overtime.

Additional factors to be considered:

– An individual could have considerable freedom and independence in carrying out work and still remain an employee.
– An employee with specialist knowledge may not be directed as to how the work is carried out.
– An individual who is paid by commission, by share, or by piecework, or in some other atypical fashion may still be regarded as an employee.
– Some employees work for more than one employer at the same time. Some employees do not work on the employer’s premises.
– There are special PRSI rules for the employment of family members.
– Statements in contracts considered by the Supreme Court in the ‘Denny’ case, such as “You are deemed to be an independent contractor”, “It shall be your duty to pay and discharge such taxes and charges as may be payable out of such fees to the Revenue Commissioners or otherwise”, “It is agreed that the provisions of the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977 shall not apply etc”, “You will not be an employee of this company”, “You will be responsible for your own tax affairs” are not contractual terms and have little or no contractual validity. While they may express an opinion of the contacting parties, they are of minimal value in coming to a conclusion as to the work status of the person engaged.

Furthermore:

An individual would normally be self-employed if he or she:

– Owns his or her own business.
– Is exposed to financial risk, by having to bear the cost of making good faulty or substandard work carried out under the contract.
– Assumes responsibility for investment and management in the enterprise.
– Has the opportunity to profit from sound management in the scheduling and performance of engagements and tasks.
– Has control over what is done, how it is done, when and where it is done and whether he or she does it personally.
– Is free to hire other people, on his or her terms, to do the work which has been agreed to be undertaken.
– Can provide the same services to more than one person or business at the same time.
– Provides the materials for the job.
– Provides equipment and machinery necessary for the job, other than the small tools of the trade or equipment which in an overall context would not be an indicator of a person in business on their own account.
– Has a fixed place of business where materials equipment etc. can be stored.
– Costs and agrees a price for the job.
– Provides his or her own insurance cover e.g. public liability cover, etc.
– Controls the hours of work in fulfilling the job obligations.

I do sympathise with your plight and wish you luck in your future dealings with this Sham. By all means invite people to visit GoAskMeBollix (and we are always grateful for the plug).

Rest assured that your anonymity is safe will never be revealed to anyone. To reassure you, the email address you entered with your comments has been deleted from the GoAskMeBollix database. However GoAskMeBollix is a public forum and operates under the premise publish and/or be damned, so you now have your 15 seconds of fame. (Hopefully the legal advice will compensate!)

For future contributors:

This is an anonymous and public forum. If you need a piece-of-shite email address for the purpose of submitting a comment just make up anything-you-want@mailinator.com or use goaskmebollix@example.com or in fact any valid format of email address – in other words don’t use your own!

I am writing in reply to your post : When IT Providers Attack

I am a past employer of that… gently said scammer. Now he owe around 5000 to 4 freelancers in total. Not mentioning unpaid taxes for me and other guy. Now I have problem with Revenue about that. He employed other guy without contract or employer number and of course he did not payed him 1200 he owned him for his work. He scammed few clients before and made fraud on advertising money for one of the clients (he took 1000, paid 250 for ad words and kept 750 for himself. I have online proof of that).
There is a lot more.
I do not know why I was working for him at the first place. I just did not wanted to be a part of his scams when I noticed what is going on, so I left.

The really funny thing is that he is still a fecking councilor for Fianna Fáil.

Now I am planning to write to Clondalkin Gazette to show them how great Trevor Gilligan is. I was planning to use a link to your blog as well.

For now I would like to stay anonymous. But feel free to contact me if you want to know more. I am planning do get my revenge on this bastard. I simple have enough and I want him to pay for all my nerves and all my friends he did not paid. I am planning to sue him and write to papers but I do not know if there is enough evidence or if the story is in any interest to papers.