Upwork Hourly Dispute

Process Update

On February 21, Upwork updated Hourly dispute rules, making them a bit more fair for the freelancers. Before February 21, if the freelancer did not respond to a dispute ticket, created by a client, within 3 business days, all the money for the previous week was returned to the client.

What changed in Upwork Hourly Dispute?

Now, freelancers will still quality for Hourly Payment Protection even if they don’t reply to a dispute within 3 business day. BUT, this only covers the funds, billed with a tracker. So, any funds acquired outside of Hourly Payment Protection are lost.

How to ensure you qualify for Hourly Payment Protection?

Have an hourly contract.
Track time with the Upwork Desktop App (no unrelated activity should appear on screenshots).
Fill in the job description in the work diary.

A few more important (but less obvious) tips to make sure you get paid:

Work with clients with verified billing method only;
Use account in good standing (no active or recent account suspension over 2 months);
Maintain adequate activity level (Upwork checks that there are clicks each minute);
Stay within weekly limit (if you need to work more – ask the client to raise the limit).

Note that maximum amount of coverage under the Hourly Payment Protection for freelancers for the life of a relationship with the same client is $2,500 or 50 hours logged in Work Diary at freelancer’s average hourly rate billed to the client, based on whichever is less. This means that even if the client refuses to pay through their bank, Upwork will pay you NO MORE than $2,500 under the hourly protection. Considering, that they usually pause the contract after 3-4 days of not getting the money from the client, it’s not easy to reach this limit.

February updates on Upwork here

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