This article is written by Garima Gunjan, pursuing a Diploma in Advanced Contract Drafting, Negotiation and Dispute Resolution from LawSikho.

Introduction

People per Hour (hereby referred to as PPH) is an online portal based in the United Kingdom that provides business opportunities to freelancers across the globe. It is headquartered in London and was co-founded by Simos Kitiris and Xenios Thrasyvoulou in 2007. The portal offers different freelancing options to registered freelancers as required by small/big companies based on the freelancers’ skills. Apart from categories such as Digital Marketing, Sales, App Development, Content Marketing, the portal offers several opportunities to Legal Professionals who wish to start something on their own. The article covers the legal policy of PPH site which the users should be aware of before they start using it. User should be aware of Terms & Conditions policy of PPH so that they do not face any legal hindrance in future. 

People per Hour Customer Segment

This portal is feasible for the clients of two types: 

1. Freelancers

The PPH provides opportunities to the Freelancers in order to grow their entrepreneurial bases independently with deserving rates. This in turn boosts their portfolio. To make sure that freelancers’ professional skills are authentic, the PPH portal verifies relevant information in different ways whenever such freelancers register. 

2. Companies

This platform allows companies to post their professional requirement for freelancers along with deserving rates. The portal then shortlists the profiles of freelancers with profiles that are in accordance with gig requirements and matches them with the requirements of the company. Apart from that, freelancers can apply to the offers on their own as well.

PPH’s Terms and conditions explained

The People per Hour is a company that was incorporated in the UK and bears company number 06369697. If a freelancer or company wishes to use the services of this portal, they need to accept T&C along with related reference policies. The portal is meant to link Freelancers to buyers. 

Basic Terms

• Services: The platform offers services (referred to as ‘Project’ throughout the site) in the form of offers and custom projects. They can be fixed prices by way of ‘price per item’ or ‘price per team. It is at the discretion of Freelancers whether they wish to accept a project or not. With the help of this platform, the Freelancers offer their services to Buyers who in turn fix project prices, duration, and other requirements. The Freelancers need to accept the projects offered to them by the Buyers within one day from the date of issue. Once a Freelancer completes a project, the Buyer needs to pay her within seven days from the date of completion.
• Funds: The portal holds funds securely to settle required service provisions and invoices of Freelancers. The funds held on the portal is stored in a separate client account. It does not allow its users to hold dormant balances after 30 days. If not done so, the portal reserves the right to issue a fine to the user by writing down the dormant balance to zero. None of the government or private agencies covers the funds held on this platform by Buyers or Freelancers.

• Payments & Rights: This portal acts as a payment agent between the Buyer & Freelancer. Under this agreement, the portal discharges obligations of Buyers related to debts meant for Freelancers. The portal makes funds available to Freelancers within 24 hours of payment done. Freelancers are required to set up a valid withdrawal account in order to withdraw these funds. The portal reserves the right to delay payments to the freelancers if it suspects that money laundering or fraud has taken place via the concerned project. All payments need to be done via PPH unless the portal has given express written permission in special cases. 
• Contacting: PPH users receive regular mails related to projects, offers, among others. The users have the option to unsubscribe from this service in case they do not wish to receive such details. If the users accept the T&C related to contacts, they also receive emails from TalentDesk.io, a PPH-powered venture. PPH provides database access to this venture, due to which the latter can invite eligible PPH freelancers to participate in suitable projects. If a user does not want to receive such emails from TalentDesk.io, they can unsubscribe the same by logging in to the site portal via PPH user details. 

User Accounts

Users, whether they’re Buyer or Freelancer, need to create an account on PPH if they wish to access the site fully. They need to provide full and authentic information while registering. They can register only one account at a time. If a user violates certain profile policies such as breaching T&Cs, enters unverified information, or performs an action that results in a loss for buyers, then PPH reserves the right to stop such user’s projects in progress, block accounts temporarily and warn other buyers of such actions. The rights of users may vary according to the countries they reside in. PPH doesn’t support users of countries such as the Region of Crimea, Iran, North & South Sudan, North Korea, and Syria as per rules of UK AML.

Project Delivery

The portal holds the Buyer’s funds in an Escrow account. Once a Freelancer accepts a project, he must deliver it accordingly to the Buyer to receive timely payment. Both of them need to be in touch while the project is ongoing. They need to communicate directly via WorkStream so that both sides are protected if any dispute arises between them. 

Once a project is completed, the Freelancer has to submit an invoice. Then the Buyer has to leave feedback, after which PPH releases payment to the Freelancer automatically from the Escrow account. If the Buyer is not satisfied with Freelancer’s work, he can reject Freelancer’s invoice so that the latter can provide the required correction as pointed by the Buyer. If the Buyer neither refuses the invoice nor provides feedback to the Freelancer, the former will be liable for further action. The payment will be released automatically from the Escrow account if there is no Buyer response even after 15 days. Similarly, the Buyers are allowed to report Freelancer accounts if they do not submit work on time despite warnings. PPH provides relevant protection to both Buyers and Freelancers in order to protect their interests.

Payment

Payments are to be made once the project as specified by the Buyer is completed by the Freelancer. The account of Freelancers can be suspended if they demand payment before the completion of a project. Payments are issued using AutoPay Feature. Buyers need express written consent from PPH if they wish to make a payment outside the portal. If not done so, PPH may file a breach of terms case and would recover the amount from both Buyer and/or Freelancer to cover the legal process. PPH verifies Buyers’ funds before it is released to Freelancer’s account. If a Freelancer wishes to withdraw funds from a PPH account, then she needs to have a verified Bank account or a PayPal account with the user’s name.

Cancellation & Refunds

The Buyers are entitled to a refund by making a request on the WorkStream via the ‘Request Refund’ option. They can get a refund if the Freelancer fails to accept the project request within a day, fails to deliver the project on time, or the quality of the project is not good. PPH conducts a review before initiating the refund. 

Disputes

The users are encouraged by the PPH to resolve minor disputes by themselves. If they fail to do so, the PPH customer service provides them Dispute Resolution. If a Freelancer wishes to raise a Dispute, then he has to pay a small fee which is non-refundable. To make a decision, PPH will consider communication done via WorkStream as the only evidence. Before going for a Dispute, users have to agree that PPH is not liable for the failures for which the dispute was raised by either of the sides.

Privacy Policy

Once a user registers at this site, he consents that PPH may utilize his personal data, including the sensitive ones, in order to process it in accordance with the European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), 2016 and PPH Privacy Policy. The portal utilizes users’ personal data in order to gather feedback regarding their work experience which further helps the portal to grow its reach and work on suggestions received. PPH is not involved in the Service Contract between the Buyer and Freelancer. The users of PPH are entitled to enter into Service Contracts which is according to terms of GDPR, 2016 & PPH Privacy Policy. 

Governing Laws

The T&C policies of PPH, any dispute related to them, any claim arising out of contractual or non-contractual dispute shall be governed by the laws of England and Wales. The courts of England and Wales have non-exclusive jurisdiction to settle any case that arises out of in connection with these Terms and Conditions or their formation. 

Conclusion

People per Hour is a user- friendly portal that has designed its Terms and Conditions in a manner that users from different countries can use it with ease to earn a decent income. The T&Cs are compatible with local laws of different countries that allows the users to trust PPH. The users of this site should be aware of T&C so that they can provide services and earn income smoothly. Your conclusion is really short. Also add: how has this kind of agreement benefited the parties to it and why in your opinion such agreements are important. 

References

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PeoplePerHour
2. https://www.peopleperhour.com/how-it-works
3. https://www.peopleperhour.com/static/terms 

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Students of Lawsikho courses regularly produce writing assignments and work on practical exercises as a part of their coursework and develop themselves in real-life practical skill.