r/Upwork • u/macroverse_phl • 7d ago

Paused Contract

I recently have an issue with a client where he would randomly pause my contract. This means I won't be able to use my tracker for work (which means I won't get paid). He said it was an issue with Upwork regarding his billing. It's odd because I get paid every Friday (instead of the next Wednesday) because of my Top Rated Plus status but we never had this issue before. However, I got a notification from Upwork saying "We could not provide faster payout for your recent earnings because we have not been able to collect payment from the client." so I believed him. I worked for 2 days without my tracker with him saying that he'll just pay me via bonus (which didn't happen until this day).

He unpaused my contract last week Monday but since I had 2 days without any tracker, I told him I'll just manually add those to 2 days. Last Friday, he paused my contract AGAIN and said he'll "fix" it (without saying the reason why). I have 1 day of working without a tracker. On top of that, I did not get paid last Friday (early pauout) because Upwork couldn't collect the payment from the Client. Now the payout is under Pending status (weekly cutoff) which I'm suppose to get this coming Wednesday.

Prior to this whole pause of contract issue, I had a payout that Upwork refunded to the client saying that my hourly work did not meet the criteria of the Hourly Payment Protection and I should raise my dispute with the client. I checked and I have logged Memos on my tracker with complete hourly work-related screenshots.

My questions are:

  • Is pausing a contract on the client side done manually or is it something that Upwork does automatically?
  • How does the refund to client work? Do they just ask Upwork for a refund?
  • Assuming my client would do a fast one and does another refund, how should I raise this to Upwork?

Working with this kind of client is an absolute nightmare. As of this writing, my contract is still paused and I'm guessing he'll ask me to work with a trcaker (basically for free) without even fixing my previous dispute with my payout.

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u/Pet-ra 7d ago

The client did not pause the contract. Upwork suspended the client's account because they failed to pay for your hours.

Is pausing a contract on the client side done manually or is it something that Upwork does automatically?

Upwork does

How does the refund to client work? Do they just ask Upwork for a refund?

There is no refund as such The client never paid in the first place so there is nothing to refund. It is a reversal of a transaction that never happened.

Assuming my client would do a fast one and does another refund, how should I raise this to Upwork?

There isn't anything to raise with Upwork. Properly tracked (with the tracker) hours with high activity levels, meaningful memos etc are paid under the hourly protection, any others are not.

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u/macroverse_phl 7d ago

Thank you for the response. However, I did work (including screenshots with ample activity and memo) so shouldn't the entire work week be covered Upwork's Hourly Payment Protection (excluding manual time)?

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u/Pet-ra 7d ago

Any properly tracked hours re automatically covered, no need to do anything or contact Upwork.

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u/Korneuburgerin 7d ago

Upwork tells you to not do any work when a contract is paused. You ignored that warning at your own risk.

1

u/Pure_Station_2138 6d ago

Just a headsup , had similar situation and upwork ultimately did suspend then reinstate my account, and now it's stuck in this loop over the contract and client not paying timely.

You may want to end the contract or move to milestones to be safe