Employment Contracts
How to draw up a contract of employment
By law you are required to provide all employees with a written contract of employment within 2 months of their employment. It is important to note that part-timers are entitled to the same treatment, this is inclusive of:
- Pay
- Holiday
- Promotion opportunities
- Pension schemes
- Any benefits that the company may offer
A contract of employment comes into effect as soon as the job has been accepted regardless whether or not it has been written down so be absolutely certain when offering a term of employment or include suitable conditions of employment i.e. reference checks
We have drawn up a set of guidelines that you should follow when drawing up an employment contract.
When registering for human resource manager we will create employment contracts tailored to your organisation ensuring all terms and conditions are set up appropriately and you comply with the law.
Employment terms can be written, oral or implied although it is arguable that oral or implied are not crystal clear and written terms and conditions are the safest way forward and could prevent future mis-understandings.
The employee contact should contain the following:
- Legal business name
- Legal name of employee
- Employment start date (if applicable include original start date if continuing employment)
- Salary and method of payment
- Hours of work
- Holiday entitlement – this must be accurate i.e. bank holidays
- Job title/brief job description
There are a number of other details that need to be included either in this document or followed up in an employee handbook, these include:
- Sick leave & sick pay entitlement
- Length of notice you & the employee must give to terminate the employment
- Period of employment – permanent, temporary, etc
- Details of collective agreements with trade unions
- Employment abroad
- Pensions – any terms relating to pensions
- Dismissal, disciplinary & grievance procedures – this should include the full process that is to be followed including names that should be contacted throughout disciplinary procedures and who to appeal to.
Amending Existing Contracts
Should you wish to make amendments to a contract you MUST obtain prior written consent, if you fail to do this you could be sued for breach of contract. All changes made must be communicated to employees in writing as soon as possible.
Implied Terms
There are some terms in a contract that do not require to be written these can range from loyalty & trust within the organisation to providing a healthy and safe environment.
Other implied terms can be considered as something too obvious to be mentioned i.e. stealing from the employer.
You cannot opt out of writing a contract and are potentially huge financial implications should you chose to ignore this piece of legislation.
A contract can be simple and straight forward as long as all points above have been covered.