In the world of independent contracting, clarity and mutual respect are key. Contractors aren’t employees—they operate under terms that respect their autonomy, including when, how, and through which channels they choose to communicate. But what happens when a company disregards those boundaries and retaliates when a contractor exercises their contractual rights?
Here’s a case study from my legal journey that reveals how a company’s inaction can say more than its words—and how claims of urgency can fall apart under closer scrutiny.
Exercising the Right to Step Back
During a scheduled holiday period, Joseph in this case exercised their explicit right—protected under contract—to refrain from engaging with Verdant Strategies via Slack, company email, and conference calls. They also chose not to publish content or chase approvals while Verdant Strategies itself was officially on break.
This was not a walkout, a disappearance, or abandonment of duties. It was a reasonable, contractual decision made during a time when Verdant Strategies had communicated that operations would pause for the holidays.
Retaliation Instead of Communication
Despite later claiming that certain deliverables were “urgent,” Verdant Strategies made no attempt to reach Joseph through any of the alternate communication channels that had been clearly established and remained available. No text. No phone call. No direct message to Joseph’s independent business email or social media. Silence.
If Verdant Strategies had genuinely required urgent action, they could have used these readily available contact methods. But they didn’t.
Instead, after the holiday break, they used Joseph’s absence from internal platforms as a pretext to fabricate a breach of contract and abruptly terminate the relationship. This sudden shift—absent any real outreach or clarity—revealed that urgency was never the issue. The real issue was control.
Retaliation in Disguise
This sequence of events highlights a tactic that unfortunately isn’t uncommon: retaliating against a contractor for asserting their independence. When companies expect employee-like obedience from independent contractors and don’t get it, retaliation can follow in the form of sudden termination, refusal to pay, or false accusations of breach.
But when a company fails to pick up the phone, send a text, or reach out via a professional email address, their claims of urgency collapse. And when they retaliate instead of communicate, their intent becomes clear.
Why This Matters
Independent contractors have rights. And those rights include:
- The right to choose communication methods.
- The right to maintain independence in how work is performed.
- The right to pause work when Verdant Strategies itself is not responsive or operational.
- The right to due process before being terminated under a pretext.
If a company retaliates against a contractor for exercising these rights, they may be exposing themselves to claims of bad-faith conduct, breach of contract, and even misclassification under state labor laws like California’s AB-5.
Final Thoughts
This experience is a reminder: independent doesn’t mean unprotected. If you’re a contractor and you’ve been punished for honoring the terms of your agreement or for simply not being “available enough,” don’t assume you’re powerless.
When a company’s silence speaks louder than their claims of urgency, the record speaks for itself.
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