• Care home – HR support
• Contracts of employment
• Children’s nursery – HR support
• Disciplinary procedures
• Employee handbooks
• Employment tribunal claims
• Equality Act 2010
• Flexible working requests
• Maternity leave rights
• Redundancy procedures & business restructuring
• Restrictive covenants – employer
• Retirement age issues
• Sickness absence
• TUPE regulations
• Whistleblowing

Contracts of employment

We all know that a verbal contract of employment is not worth the paper it is written on....

So here are our Seven Reasons as to why it makes good business sense to provide your staff with written contracts of employment:

1. In the beginning......As an employer, you are legally obliged to provide employees with the date of commencement of employment and also the date when “continuous employment” began. Continuous employment is the date used to calculate statutory redundancy payments (based on length of service) and other statutory employment rights.
2. “You said at the interview” – A contract of employment can be written or oral, or a combination of both. A written contract with an “entire agreement” clause can help to defeat any argument that other terms, for example any discussions at job interviews have been incorporated into the contract.
3. “I wish we’d have thought of that at the time....” – properly drafted contracts of employment can act as a checklist of matters to discuss and agree with successful interviewees to ensure that you cover off important matters.
4. Avoid the implication.......certain contractual terms will usually be implied by law in the absence of any written term, and that may not always suit you as the employer. One example may be an implied right to a bonus or to an enhanced redundancy payment based on “custom and practice”. An express written term dealing with these matters from your perspective will help to defeat arguments based on an implied term.
5. Garden leave – “Garden leave” is a provision whereby the employer has the contractual right to insist that the employee works out their notice period at home and can keep them away from the workplace. Whilst this must normally be on full pay, the provision can prove helpful when you are negotiating matters with senior employees who may wish to leave to join a competitor. Without an express “garden leave” clause written into the contract it may be very difficult to persuade a Court to imply one to benefit you as the employer.
6. Business protection – As an employer you may wish to expressly include business protection clauses in written contracts. Examples of this are confidentiality clauses, return of property on termination of employment, and restrictive covenants seeking to prohibit solicitation of staff and customers.
7. Basic particulars – Section 1 Employment Rights Act 1996 obliges employers to provide certain basic terms (known as “employment particulars”) in writing to all new employees within 2 months of their start date and to similarly notify any changes. Whilst the penalties for failure have limited financial value, any failures in this basic obligation will not endear you to an Employment Tribunal. Remember, the Tribunal is likely to be considering other employment tribunal claims against you aside from a mere failure to provide particulars. As an employer, best advice is to always get off on the right foot!

Convinced?

Then contact us and we can work with you to produce tailor made contracts that will provide clarity and act to protect your business. We can also guide you through the process of amending or introducing contracts with the minimum of fuss and expense.

Disclaimer – The contents of this page are provided for general guidance only and do not replace the need to obtain legal advice about any given situation.