Employment Contracts Explained

When a person agrees to undertake a job for an employer then an employment agreement will exist between employee and employer. At first there may not be any written contract, but a contract of employment will still exist. Employment contracts are set in place to fully outline the employee and employer’s terms, conditions and rights with regards to the employment.

Employment Contracts and the Law

The law has strict rules regarding employment contracts and the rights of the employee; these are known as statutory rights. An employee has a number of these statutory rights and employment contracts must include them. An employee and employer can list any number of duties and expectations in the contract but the contract must include the employee’s statutory rights. Be aware that some rights will be different if the employee is a self-employed or under a specific contract.

Statutory Rights of the Employee

Statutory rights are set in place to protect the employee. For example if an employer tries to dismiss an employee unfairly this will go against the statutory rights of the employee and the matter can be taken further. The employee has numerous statutory rights all designed to protect the worker from illegal employment practices. Some of the many employment statutory rights include:

• Rights to maternity leave.
• Rights to a detailed pay statement.
• The right to written employment contracts.
• Rights regarding unfair dismissal.
• Harassment and discrimination rights.
• Rights regarding sickness and holiday pay.
• Minimum wage rights.
• Rights regarding unfair dismissal.

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The Written Employment Contract

Under the law, employees do have the right to a written employment contract within two months of starting any form of employment. It is well known that numerous employers will hold off on giving out employment contracts for their own reasons. Some employers are under the impression that they can dismiss employees without notice simply because they do not have a written contract. This is against the law and does go against the employee’s statutory rights.

Requesting a Written Employment Contract

All employees have the right to a written employment contract regardless of the number of hours the employee works or whether they are full or part-time workers. If an employee has still not received a written employment contract after two months of beginning work then they should request one either verbally or in writing. An employee is entitled to this contract under the law, and if an employer makes it difficult for the employee or tries to unfairly dismiss them for asking for a written contract then this matter can be taken to a higher level.

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Terms of the Written Employment Contract

There are two sets of terms in an employment contract; these are implied and express contractual terms. Implied contractual terms are conditions that are not specifically set out within the contract. For instance the contract could state that an employee must undertake any reasonable request of work by the employer, although in real terms the word “reasonable” is hard to define. However, if an employer gives you work to do that you think is unreasonable then the best way to query this may be to ask other employees who have been there longer and may be more rights aware.

Express contractual terms are specific terms and conditions of employment that are set out in a detailed and clear manner. These terms should include wages, hours of employment, sick and holiday pay, notice period, redundancy rights and overtime. It may be the case that not all of the employment contract terms and conditions will be in your own personal contract. There may be other manuals and workplace books that have the full contract terms, and these should be fully available for you to read.

Broken Employment Contracts

The consequences of broken employment contracts can be very serious. If the contract is broken, known as breach of contract, then the employee can sue the employer. This can happen if any of the rights under the terms of the contract are broken. But an employer also has certain rights if the employee breaches his or her contract and broken contracts cannot be taken lightly on either side.

If an employer does breach contract then the first step for the worker should be to try and resolve the matter with the employer. If the issue is not resolved then there may be no alternative than to take the matter to the next level and issue a written grievance statement to the employer who will then have 28 days to respond. If the matter still cannot be resolved then it may take an employment tribunal to resolve the issue.

Employment contracts play an important part in the workplace. They should not be overlooked when starting a new job; the rights set out in the contract are there for the employee and employer’s protection under the law. Always be sure to ask for an employment contract within two months of starting any new employment.

The Next Step

Now that you have read through the advice above, you might want to put it into practice. Our Contract Red Flag Checker lets you describe a contract you are about to sign and get a plain English summary of the clauses that could hurt you. Takes about 2 minutes. Try it now →