Ask HN: client terminated contract, should I remove unpaid-for commits?

5 pointsby frankypoovor 14 Jahren8 comments

Hey HN, wondering your freelancing two cents. I signed a client's contract which basically said "We provide work orders (PivotalTracker sprints), you code. If you finish, we pay; if not, we don't pay." Fair enough. Hacked a few work orders, got paid. Finally there was one work order with a grizzly ticket well beyond the week's allocated hours. I suggested we break it up, or ice-box it. The client said no and insisted it be completed before they accept the work order. I chugged and chugged on this one ticket, until finally (as per the work order's due date) the contract was terminated.

Now, they have all my commits for that work order leading up to the final ticket (about $700 of my time). A lot of work down the drain. My question is, seeing as the whole shebang is either accepted or rejected (not individual tickets), should I remove all my commits for that work order, since I'm not being paid for them? A simple `git rebase -i ... git push --force` would do. I'm sure someone has a local clone and could figure it out (after some cursing). Possibly enough to leverage a payout on my work, otherwise (since that's been addressed in the contract) they'll just deal with the lost work order as I am.

I don't mean to be malicious, I'm not trying to haxor their bases; I just don't want them to have my work for free. I've looked through the contract and there's nothing addressing redacted IP on failed work orders as far as I can tell. Thoughts? More trouble than it's worth?

6 comments

ecspikevor 14 Jahren

I don't think it's worth it. Sometimes you have to cut your losses. I think it might be more productive to tell your network not to work with this company.

Doing the un-commits without consulting a lawyer can get you branded as a disgruntled employee and hurt future prospects in the best case scenario or get you sued in the worst.

frankypoovor 14 Jahren

Fair enough, I think you're right.

1simonsayzvor 14 Jahren

If you have a copy of the email saying that you request payment as directed in contract and they refuse, erase your commit. I don't see why they should have your work. After you remove your code, just send a quick email saying, code still available upon reception of payment.

trevelyanvor 14 Jahren

I don't see what's wrong with it, especially since you'd just be resetting the code base to its original state for the convenience of the next programmer.

Spoomvor 14 Jahren

In the future you may want to negotiate smaller milestones or an hourly rate.

aaronbrethorstvor 14 Jahren

Ask your attorney.

kylemaxwellvor 14 Jahren

This is the right answer. "I don't see anything in the contract" is a terrible assumption for Internet comments, even if it frequently serves as par for the course.

frankypoovor 14 Jahren

I was afraid you'd say that :)

[deleted]vor 14 Jahren