Why do you receive one when you register, and what does this cover?
- Key Points
By itself, this is a very general document that is sent out for signature when you join/rejoin Nasa Umbrella. It serves to sit in the background and function as the overall agreement between yourself and Nasa. Many of the clauses contain information that must be included so as to qualify as an employment contract by UK law. This document will contain little-to-no-information for your specific assignment as this document is not designed to contain information relating to your assignment, this information would be found in your Assignment Contract and/or the Assignment Details email that our Contracts Team will send to you.
- I thought I would be employed by the agency or end client?
Although Nasa is your employer whilst on assignment you will need to report to your line manager. This in turns means you are not an employee of the agency or client whilst on assignment with Nasa Umbrella.
- The start date in the Employment Pack is different to my assignment start date?
The start date of your employment pack refers to the date you registered with Nasa Umbrella, not the date your assignment began. Your specific assignment start date will be sent to you once we receive your assignment information from your agency.
- Why are there no details about my specific assignment?
As mentioned above in our Contracts Overview, the Employment Pack is meant to serve as the overall background agreement between you and Nasa, whilst Agency Contracts will contain the specific information for the role you are performing.
- Why do I have to use reasonable endeavours to develop your business?
In this context, the nature of this clause refers to the business relationships that would be fostered from your assignment. Whilst we might have worked with your recruitment agency many times in the past, your assignment continues to strengthen that connection between our businesses. Were you to begin another assignment with an another agency, again you would be growing our business. This only relates to assignments you, yourself have sourced, and is not mandatory as “reasonable endeavours” are communicated in this clause, not “best/exclusive endeavours”
- Why does it say I will be paid minimum wage?
We refer to you being paid National Minimum Wage and an Additional Taxable Pay(ATP). This ATP relates to your actual rate of pay for your assignment.
The reasons for dividing your earnings in this fashion are twofold; firstly, you are entitled to at least minimum wage and holiday pay for all assignments that you take through Nasa Umbrella, so this is shown on our employment contract to prove that this requirement has been met.
Secondly, this allows the contract of employment to take on an overarching nature, and therefore this contract can apply to any and all assignment you may undertake through Nasa. This is also how it will be shown on your payslips, which are accessible on the Nasa Portal.
Your contract rate will be confirmed in your assignment schedule, which we send to you for each assignment once we receive this information from your agency.
- What does the restrictive clause mean?
Our restrictive covenant is a standard clause that is found in a number of contracts between umbrellas and agencies, confirming that during your employment, and for a period after your employment ends, you agree not to approach the end client you have been working for, or any customers you have provided business to, in an attempt to seek new employment. This is to prevent you “cutting out” the agency from the agreement.
However, if your agency has an existing agreement with your end client or have provided consent for you to “go direct” then you are not bound by this clause. But this would be something you would have to discuss with your agency if you were looking to take this action. The restrictive covenant would not apply to your assignment if a similar clause was not found in the assignment contract or master agreement that we would receive from your agency.
- Why does the contract say IPR will be Nasa’s?
IPR stands for Intellectual Property Rights which are the exclusive rights given to a person for anything they create - this includes copyright and trademark.
This is commonly found in contracting “chains” such as working on assignment via the Umbrella. This clause is mirrored in our agreement with the agency, who in turn should have an agreement with the end client, so that ultimately IPR rests with the end client for any and all work that is created on site with the client.
To confirm, this clause does not extend to any business or work you may engage in outside of your assignment with Nasa Umbrella, and Nasa Umbrella would not seek to extend this clause to reflect such.
- Do I need to check in once a month?
Whilst with Nasa Umbrella, it is expected that you will be actively seeking assignments for yourself, and so contact once a month during a period of inactivity confirms to us that you would still like to use our services as a courtesy.